Luxembourg, 02/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Four of the ten companies fined for operating a cartel in the carbonless paper sector between 1992 and 1995 are calling on the European Court of First Instance to annul the European Commission decision for failing, in their view, to take account of the fact that they only had minor roles in the cartel (see Europe of 21 December 2001) for various reasons:
Papierfabriek August Koehler (Germany) says it was only involved in the cartel from 1993 onwards following threats and in a crisis situation. The EUR 33 million fine it too high with regard to the size of the company, meaning it was more severely sanctioned that the other companies.
Zanders Feinpapiere (Germany) said it was "merely passive" and it EUR 29.76 million fine is discriminatory "compared with much more active members of the cartel" and that the Commission did not take account of the minor effects of the cartel or the poor economic situation in the carbonless paper sector.
Papeteries Mougeot (France) said that since it joined the cartel so late, its EUR 3.64 million fine is disproportionate to its real responsibility in the crime and the Commission did not take account of the fact that it collaborated in the enquiry. The company argues that the crisis situation should have led the Commission to set lower fines.
Distribuidora Vizcaina de Papeles (Spain) which was fined EUR 1.75 million describes itself as a small family-style undertaking, "of modest economic size", distributing and processing carbonless copy paper and neither manufacturing it nor exporting it unlike other companies. The Commission failed to establish that it participated in the "alleged meetings" or the "alleged collusive arrangements".
Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicunaga (Spain) denies having participated in the meetings organised by the cartel, saying that it is not a member of the European Association of Manufacturers of Carbonless Paper (AEMPC) and calls for its EUR 1.54 million fine to be cut.
When the Commission announced that it was levying fines on the ten companies, Commissioner Monti said that the Commission had given itself the means to detect cartels, to pursue them and penalise them effectively.