Brussels, 30/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - The famous fine art auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's have been found guilty of infringing European rules of competition under Article 81(1) (ban on concerted agreements or practices with as effect price fixing, limitations on production or sharing out the market). Based on evidence provided by Christie's itself in January 2000, the Commission was able to gather proof of a cartel consisting in fixing sales commissions and other commercial conditions (notably advances given to salesmen, guarantees relating to the results of auctions and conditions of payment) and initiated an official procedure two years later, sending to letters of complaint to the interested parties (see EUROPE of 20 April, 2002, p.10). The cartel lasted from 1993 to early 2000, the parties then having been free to fix their prices individually. Sotheby's receives a 20.4 million euro fine (corresponding to 6% of its world turnover), whereas Christie's escapes the penalty for having been the first to provide defining proof that enabled the Commission to establish the existence of a cartel. By co-operating, both parties wanted to limit the ferocious competition they had waged on each other in the 80s and early 90s. The collusive behaviour was decided on at the highest level, involving the presidents of the two companies, Alfred Taubman for Sotheby's and Anthony Tennant for Christie's. The Commission is satisfied with the "good collaboration" of the establishments with both the European and American competition authorities. (the American ministry of justice has already condemned the auction houses for the same practices) which allowed for the affair to be settled relatively quickly. According to Commissioner Monti: "this case again shows that illegal cartels can appear in any sector, from basic industries to high profile service markets such as the one at hand". the Commission also praised the "good co-operation" his services had with their counterparts in the American justice ministry who dealt with the same issue.