Rubber Cartel fined

Five groups of companies have been fined € 519 million by the Dutch Competition Authority (Nma) for operating a price fixing cartel and customer sharing in the synthetic rubber sector. According to the Nma, companies belonging to Eni, Bayer, Shell, Dow, Unipetrol and Trade-Stomil operated the cartel between 1996 and 2002. Products traded under the cartel included butadiene rubber and emulsion styrene butadiene rubber, used to manufacture tyres. The fines handed down to Eni, Shell and Bayer were increased because they have previously been found guilty of operating cartels.