Brussels, 24/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced on Tuesday 24 July that it had sent a statement of objections to 13 suppliers of CD and DVD optical disk drives used in personal computers. The companies are suspected of taking part in a worldwide cartel on prices over a period of at least five years, in breach of European competition rules. The Commission takes the preliminary view that the companies concerned, the names of which have not been revealed, may have coordinated their behaviour in bidding events organised by two major original equipment manufacturers (one of which may be US company Hewlett-Packard) for optical disk drives used in personal computers (desktops and notebooks) and in servers. This behaviour, which may have been damaging to these manufacturers, is, according to the Commission spokesperson, “one of the most serious breaches of EU antitrust rules”, and, if established, could result in fines of up to 10% of company annual worldwide turnover. At this stage, however, the companies are merely being informed of the suspicions raised against them. They can examine the documents on the Commission's investigation file so that they are in a position to defend themselves. (FG/transl.rt)