Maximum fines for Polish cement cartel

The Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (OCCP) has announced fines totalling PLZ 411 million (€ 99 million) for seven cement manufacturers accused of price fixing. OCCP says two cartels were in place for 11 years up to the end of 2006 covering the entire national market.

OCCP says the cartels were uncovered when Lafarge and Gorazdze Cement blew the whistle on other cartel members. As a result of this and the accompanying applications for leniency, Lafarge has not received a fine, and Gorazdze Cement's fine has been halved.

However, OCCP has levied the maximum possible fines against the other offenders - Grupa Ozarow, Cemex, Dyckerhoff, Cementownia Warta and Cementownia Odra. Under Polish law, the upper limit for fines is 10% of company revenues in the last full accounting year preceding the penalty.

Among the anti-competitive practices uncovered by OCCP were market sharing agreements in the grey cement market, minimum price agreements and agreed timetables for price rises. The authority says it gathered evidence against the seven companies over the course of a three-year investigation that included the biggest dawn raids of offices in its history.

CRH, which owns Grupa Ozarow, says it plans to appeal against its PLZ 105 million (€ 25,6 million) fine, and it said in a statement it had "been advised that there are significant grounds for appeal).

Under Polish law, the accused companies have two weeks to launch an appeal.

Read CE Editor Chris Sleight's comment on this story here.