Memo: Antitrust: Commission confirms sending a Statement of Objections to Alcan

The European Commission can confirm that it has sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Alcan on 21st February 2008. The SO outlines the Commission’s preliminary view that Alcan has infringed EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant position (Article 82) by tying its dominant aluminium smelting technology with handling equipment sold by Alcan's subsidiary ECL. This behaviour, if proven, risks limiting innovation in the aluminium production sector and affecting competition on the €70 billion worldwide market for aluminium, an important input for many parts of European industry.