Brussels, 24/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a statement to the press, Mario Monti announced four important decisions taken by the Commission in the field of competition:
Dutch industrial gas cartel: the European Commission has today fined seven producers of industrial and medical gases a total of € 25.72 million for participating in a secret cartel in the Netherlands between September 1993 and December 1997. The companies fined are NV Hoek Loos: € 12.6 million, AGA AB: € 4.15 million, Air Liquide BV: € 3.64 million, Air Products Nederland BV: € 2.73 million,Messer Nederland BV: € 1.17 million, BOC Group Plc: € 1 million, Westfalen Gassen Nederland BV: € 0.43 million, which kept prices high and distorted other trade conditions on the Dutch market for the supply of several gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene supplied in cylinder and liquid. These gases are used mainly in chemical and medical applications. The Commission has evidence showing that between 1989 and 1991 and subsequently from 1993 until 1997, the suppliers in question held regular meetings to discuss and fix price increases and other trading conditions. These trading conditions concerned in particular the rent of cylinders and transportation costs charged to customers. The leading suppliers also agreed to introduce a delivery charge for supplies of bulk and a charge for safety and environment on supplies of cylinders. Although the Commission collected evidence on both periods, it only took into consideration the period after September 1993 for the purpose of calculating the fines, since prescription applies for the first infringement. Hoek Loos was the most severely punished because of it being the main industrial gas supplier in the country, together with AGA AB, but given the fact that the latter actively collaborated during the investigations it got off with a reduced fine. The companies have three-month deadline to pay off the fines. Participants in cartels had to realise that the vice would get tighter, commented Mr Monti in announcing the decision.
Exemption given to Visa: After a two month investigation, the European Commission has exempted under the European Union competition rules certain multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for cross-border payments with Visa cards, after the card organisation made major changes to the system.. The European Commission has exempted under the European Union competition rules certain multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for cross-border payments with Visa cards, after the card organisation made major changes to the system. "MIF" is an interbank payment made for each transaction carried out with a payment card. In the Visa system, it is paid to the cardholder's bank by the retailer's bank and constitutes a cost for the latter which is normally passed on to retailers as part of the fee they pay to their bank for each Visa card payment. The default level of the Visa MIF - which applies unless two banks agree otherwise is set by the Visa Board and laid down in the Visa International payment card rules, which have been notified to the Commission for clearance. In September 2000 the Commission considered that the rules were not transparent, so Visa decided to revise them in order to benefit from an exemption. Thus, the new MIF will be reduced in both absolute terms and in stages to a level for the different types of consumer cards. The exemption will enter into force as soon as the modifications have been implemented by Visa - which has undertaken to do very shortly after the adoption of the decision - and it will be valid until 31 December 2007, after which date the Commission will be free to re-examine the system. The Commission explains that this will only apply to cross-border payment transactions with Visa consumer cards (credit cards, deferred debit cards and debit cards) at retailer outlets within the European Economic Area, which represent about 10% of all Visa card transactions in the EEA. The decision does not apply to MIFs for domestic Visa payments within Member States, nor to MIFs for corporate Visa cards (that is, cards used by employees for business expenditure). Commissioner Monti explained that this decision was satisfactory and that they had granted the exemption after a careful examination of the market.
P&O Princes/Carnival: after an intensive second phase investigation, the Commission has finally given the green light to the acquisition of P&O Princess Cruises by its US competitor Carnival Corp, without any conditions. During an initial investigation, competition services had certain reservations about the strong position of the parties on the cruise ship markets in the United Kingdom and Germany (see EUROPE 13 April p 9). This is thanks to, "intensive collaboration at all levels", explained Mario Monti who pointed out that strong growth had been registered on the market, the absence of significant barriers to the entry of the company onto the market and the possibilities for competitors to transfer capacity, such as that of the UK or USA for example, which exercise sufficient competitive pressure on the new Carnival group. In December 2001, Carnival announced a bid to buy up P&O Princess, a UK-based cruise company, which was in negotiations at the time with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL). It was bidding £4.56 per share (total bid of £3.2 bn). The bid was notified to the Commission for clearance in February 2002. The UK competition authorities had in the meantime authorised the competing bid from RCCL, and the Federal Trade Commission of the United States was in the process of examining both bids for P&O Princess.
Sulzer Textil/Promatech: Following a second round of investigation, the Commission also authorised Italy's Promatech SpA to take over Sulzer Textil, the textile machinery division of Swiss company Sulzer Ltd. The initial investigation had revealed the danger of a dominant position being created in the West European textile machinery market (see Europe of 18 April, p.13) but Promatech reassured the Commission by pledging to sell its textile machinery production sites in Verona and Solothurn. The deal was sent to the European competition authorities by seven different Member States' competition authorities in application of Article 22 (3) of the Merger Regulation. Monti said the bid was the best solution, pointing out that the Green Paper proposals outlined a better breakdown of cases between Member State and European competition authorities.