Cartel gets clouted
19 Jan 2005
The European Commission has fined Akzo Nobel, Atofina (now known as Arkema) and Hoechst a total of 216.91 million Euros for operating a cartel in the market for Monochloroacetic Acid (MCAA), a chemical intermediate used in the manufacture of detergents and adhesives.
For its part in the affair, Akzo Nobel was fined 84.38 million, Atofina 58.5 million and Hoechst 74.03 million Euros. The EC said that the fines on Atofina and Hoechst were high, as both had previously been fined for similar illegal behaviour.
The Commission's investigation was triggered by information brought to its attention by one of the cartel's participants, in return for immunity under the Commission's antitrust leniency programme
The Commission found that Akzo Nobel, Atofina (now Arkema), Hoechst and Clariant (after it took over Hoechst's MCAA business in 1997) had colluded in secret to share the market and fix prices for MCAA in the European Economic Area (EEA) in violation of EC Treaty rules that outlaw cartels and other restrictive business practices.
Together, the companies involved controlled over 90% of the EEA market for MCAA. In 1998, the last full year of the infringement, the EEA market was worth approximately 125 million Euros.
From at least 1984 to 1999, the producers of MCAA allocated volume quotas and customers, agreed price increases, exchanged information on sales volumes and prices to monitor the cartel and agreed on a compensation mechanism to ensure implementation of the cartel arrangements. The participants met regularly and engaged in other contacts to agree and implement the activities of the cartel.
Clariant received full immunity for being the first to provide evidence of the existence of the cartel to the Commission.
