Brussels, 05/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The eight Austrian banks that were fined by the Commission in June for price fixing, have appealed to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg against the decision. Raiffeisen Zentralbank, one of the banks that were sanctioned said that, "The Commission had not taken into account the fact that the agreement did not have any impact on the competitiveness of the Austrian market". The banks have also criticised the total amount of fines (EUR 124.26 million), one of the largest fines ever imposed by the Commission. The eight Austrian banking concerns were found guilty of having arranged a price cartel on interest rates on loans and savings, as well as commission customers had to pay for certain services. Commissioner Monti described the cartel, which began in 1994, as one of the most "shocking" ever discovered by the Commission (see EUROPE 12 June p 9).