Print cartel suspects identified

Date: 15/04/1999

By Peter Chapman

THE Acting European Commis-sion has for the first time named and shamed the companies implicated in its four-year investigation into alleged newsprint price-fixing.

The move follows last month's announcement that the institution had sent letters to a slate of companies after finding evidence that they had fixed prices and shared out customers between themselves. The letters gave details of the Commission's accusations and could lead to firms being fined up to 10&percent; of their group turnover.

The investigation was launched amid claims from customers, particularly British publishers, that they were facing concerted price hikes of 30&percent;.

A spokesman for acting competition chief Karel van Miert confirmed this week that the list included a catalogue of Scandinavian firms, including four Finnish companies: Stora Enso, UPM-Kymmene, Finnpap and Metsä-Serla en Myllykoski; Holmen and Svenska Cellulosa from Sweden; and Norway's Norske Skogindustrier.

Others include Dutch firms Buhrmann and Parenco, Germany's Haindl, Holtzmann, Lang and Palm, Austria's Leykam-Mürztaler and Steyrer-mühl, and France's Chapelle Darblay. “Last but not least,” added the Van Miert spokesman, came German paper producers' confederation Verband Deutscher Papierfabriken ev and German paper importers' confederation Verein der Deutschen Papierim-porteure ev.

He said the companies involved now had two months to reply to the allegations, and were expected to ask for an official hearing with the Commission and member state experts.

However, sources said this week that the print cartel anti-trust violations may be less serious than last year's heating pipe case, with its record €70-million fine, since there was “no indication” that the price-rigging continued after 1995.