Brussels, 03/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 October, the European Commission decided to impose fines totalling €183,651,000 on European companies participating in an illegal cartel to divide up the bitumen market in Spain for over a decade. Spanish companies Repsol and Cepsa are considered the leaders of the market fixing and have received the heaviest fines, €80.5 million and €83.8 million respectively. The other companies involved are Nynäs (Sweden, fined €10.6 m) and Galp (Portugal, fined €8.6 m). British company BP is not being fined because it was the first company to come forward with information about the cartel.
From 1991-2002, the above companies shared the market for bitumen, used for road construction, and coordinated bitumen prices. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: “It is unacceptable that these companies cheated customers, public authorities and tax payers in Spain for almost 12 years by carving up the market for road-building bitumen amongst them. The Commission will not tolerate such illegal activity by companies to swindle clients and we will continue to impose stiff penalties on offenders”. The Commission explains that bitumen is a by-product produced during the distillation of oil. It is mainly used for the production of asphalt, where it serves as an adhesive to bind stones together. The value of the Spanish market for penetration bitumen in 2001, the last full year of the almost 12-year infringement, was approximately €286 million. The Commission investigation started with surprise inspections in October 2002. (lc)