Dutch concrete cartel fined
24 April 2008
More Than € 6 Million of fines have been imposed on 10 ready mixed concrete companies accused of operating a price fixing cartel in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) claims the companies met annually between 1998 and 2002 to discuss proposed price changes for the coming year.
The fines levied by the NMa range from € 82000 to € 873000 and were imposed following an investigation launched in February 2004. The decision on the values of the fines imposed on the companies was delayed following an agreement between the NMa and the Dutch Government to give the companies an opportunity to come clean.
The NMa report on the findings of the investigation said, “This is a very grave infringement of the Competition Act. When companies exchange price information, the competition between these organisations is considerably restricted. This creates a disadvantage to buyers and an infringement of the prohibition on cartels.”
The individual companies involved in the concrete cartel have not been named by the NMa but they all operate in the Zuid-Holland and Utrecht regions.
