Brussels, 26/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - A 1999 decision by the European Commission was confirmed by the European Court of Justice in a ruling published on Thursday 25 January, finding four companies (two from Europe and two from Japan) guilty of setting up a cartel in the steel tubes market. In combined cases C-403/04 P, C-405/04 P, C-407/04 and C-411/04 P, the Court of Justice dismissed in their entirety the appeals by the defence, thereby confirming the European Commission's decision.
On 8 December 1999, the European Commission fined eight producers of seamless stainless steel tubes a total of €99 million for operating a market sharing cartel. The companies in question were British Steel Limited (UK), Dalmine S.p.A. (Italy), Mannesmannröhren Werke A.G. (Germany) (which later became Salzgitter Mannesmann GmbH), Vallourec S.A (France), and four Japanese companies, Kawasaki Steel Corporation, NKK Corporation, Nippon Steel Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Industries Limited. The companies set up a cartel requiring that the domestic markets of the different producers should be respected. Under this agreement, the other producers partly refrained from delivering Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG tubes) and Project Line pipes (used in transport) to the national markets of other parties to the agreement (see EUROPE 7610).
Seven of the eight companies appealed to the European Court of First Instance, which upheld the Commission's decision in substance, but reduced the fines on the seven companies by a total of €13 million because the Commission had not provided sufficient evidence covering the entire duration of the infringement. Four companies (Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd, Nippon Steel Corp, Dalmine Spa and Salzgitter Mannesmann GmbH) appealed against this judgement at the European Court of Justice. Having now exhausted all appeal options, the four companies will now have to pay the fines set by the European Court of First Instance.
The ruling does not only cover the behaviour of EU companies within the EU, but also the collusion of non-EU states (Japan). This confirms a recent trend, witnessed the day before in another Commission decision regarding a similar case in the energy industry (see EUROPE 9351). As the EU competition commissioner's spokesperson, Jonathan Todd, told reporters, both cases concern Japanese companies which have agreed not to sell on the EU market as long as their EU counterparts pledge not to compete against them in Japan.
The Commission is making it crystal clear that it is determined to stamp out any behaviour likely to deliberately damage competition in the EU, even 'failure to act' by a non-EU company. (cd)