Press Release: Competition: Commission fines companies EUR56 million for cartel in Italian raw tobacco market

The European Commission on 20 October 2005 decided to fine four Italian tobacco processors a total of €56 million for colluding over a period of more than six years on the prices paid to growers and other intermediaries and on the allocation of suppliers. Such collusion is outlawed by the EC Treaty’s ban on restrictive business practices (Article 81). The processors concerned were Deltafina, Dimon (which has now changed its name to Mindo), Transcatab and Romana Tabacchi. The European Commission also imposed small fines on APTI and UNITAB (respectively the Italian trade associations of processors and tobacco growers) for engaging in collective price negotiations.

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