Press Release: Antitrust: Commission fines sodium chlorate paper bleach producers € 79 million for market sharing and price fixing cartel

The European Commission imposed fines, totalling € 79 070 000, on four groups of companies for allocating sales volumes and fixing prices for sodium chlorate, an oxidizing agent used mainly for bleaching in the pulp and paper industry, in violation of the ban on cartels and restrictive business practices in the EC Treaty (Article 81) and the EEA Agreement (Article 53). The companies concerned were EKA Chemicals, Akzo Nobel, Finnish Chemicals, Erikem Luxembourg, Arkema France, Elf Aquitaine, Aragonesas Industrias y Energia and Uralita. Between late 1994 and 2000, these companies fixed prices and allocated markets through a series of meetings and other illicit contacts. Akzo Nobel and its subsidiary EKA Chemicals received full immunity from fines under the Commission’s 2002 Leniency Programme, as they were first to provide information about the cartel. Finnish Chemicals' fine is reduced by 50% because it co-operated with the investigation. The fine imposed on Arkema France was increased by 90%, as the company is a repeat offender (condemned for three previous cartels before this one).

European Commission: MEMO/08/383: Competition: Commission action against cartels – Questions and answers http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/383&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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