BRUSSELS, Nov. 12 (Chinese media) -- The European Commission on Wednesday fined four car glass manufacturers a record amount of 1.38 billion euros (1.74 billion U.S. dollars) for price fixing in a period of five years.
The four companies are Saint-Gobain of France, Pilkington of Britain, Asahi of Japan and Soliver of Belgium. Saint-Gobain alone was fined 896 million euros (1.13 billion dollars), the highest fine that has ever been imposed by the commission on an individual company.
European Union (EU) Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who announced the fines, said the four companies cheated car manufacturers and car buyers by manipulating the market between early 1998 and early 2003. The four companies controlled about 90 percent of the glass used in new cars sold in the EU and original branded replacement glass for cars in the period. The car glass business was worth 2 billion euros (2.5 billion dollars)in 2003, she said.
"Management of companies that damage consumers and damage European industry by running cartels must learn their lessons the hard way," said Kroes. "If you cheat, you will get a heavy fine."
The commission increased the fines for Saint-Gobain by 60 percent because it was a repeat offender, having already been fined for cartel activities in 1984 and 1988. Pilkington was fined370 million euros (466 million dollars) while Asahi had its fined reduced by 50 percent to 113.5 million euros (143 million dollars)as a reward to its cooperation with the commission investigation.
The commission, the executive body of the European Union, started an investigation on the basis of information provided by an anonymous informant. The information prompted the commission to carry out surprise inspections in 2005 at several sites of car glass producers in Europe. The commission investigation revealed several meetings of the four companies with a view to allocate between them market shares, thus fixing prices in their profit.
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