Billions in cartel penalties
Five German carmakers have been accused of collusion. If the allegations turn out to be true, they could face massive penalties. Here are some of the EU's most spectacular cartel fines from the past.
The biggest cartel punishment ...
was imposed on four truckmakers for price collusion by the European Commission in 2016. The total fine was 2.93 billion euros. The lion's share of around one billion euros was paid by Germany's Daimler group. The others involved were Italy's Iveco, Volvo/Renault and DAF, a Dutch manufacturer. Since MAN, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, was the whistle-blower in this case it escaped without a penalty.
Not a cartel ...
but this year the EU Commission ruled that Alphabet subsidiary Google massively abused its market power. The company was accused of having used its dominant market position to the detriment of competitors in the so-called shopping search for product advertisements. That's why the internet giant was fined a record-breaking 2.42 billion euros.
Libor interest rate manipulation ...
became a disaster for eight major banks in 2013. Secret and illegal agreements on fixing the Libor's daily rate (the interest rate at which banks borrow money) led to a fine of 1.71 billion euros for Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, Royal Bank of Scotland, JPMorgan, Citigroup, RP Martin, Barclays and UBS.
The television tube cartel ...
was a "textbook" case for the European Commission in 2012. Seven manufacturers of televisions (Samsung SDI, Thomson, Philips, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Toshiba and MTPD) had to pay a penalty of 1.47 billion euros. For almost a decade, the group colluded to divide up the market. Another company, Chunghwa, was granted leniency after helping the prosecution and got away without paying a fine.
A repeat offender ...
was involved in the so-called car glass cartel in 2008. The EU imposed a fine of 1.3 billion euros on four manufacturers of car glass panes due to illegal price fixing. Saint-Gobain from France, Asahi from Japan, Pilkington from Great Britain and Soliver from Belgium were the conspirators. As a repeat offender Saint-Gobain had to pay 896 million euros.
A classic regional cartel ...
was uncovered by the EU in 2009: the gas utilities Eon and Gaz de France. The two had agreed not to sell gas in the home market of the other as part of a deal to build a pipeline - thus preventing proper pricing competition. The penalty: 553 million euros - for each company.
The largest chip producer ...
bribed distributors in order to insure that only Intel processors were used. In May 2009, the EU imposed a billion euro penalty because Intel had abused its dominant market position. The company used illegal rebates and direct payments to manufacturers and dealers, which disadvantaged rival AMD, the second-largest chip maker after Intel.
Even elevators and escalators ...
between 1995 and 2004, five producers fixed prices, divided markets and exchanged confidential information. ThyssenKrupp Elevator from Germany, Otis from America, Schindler from Switzerland, Kone from Finland and Mitsubishi Elevator Europe had to pay a total fine of 992 million euros in 2007.