France's Antitrust Watchdog Fines 20 Courier Companies $739 Million -- 2nd Update
15 Décembre 2015 - 5:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Inti Landauro
PARIS--France's antitrust watchdog on Tuesday fined 20 courier
companies a combined EUR672 million ($739 million) for fixing price
increases for parcel delivery services for six years.
Executives from a number of courier service companies, including
Federal Express, Deutsche Post DHL, U.K.'s Royal Mail and TNT,
routinely met on the sidelines of an industry group to discuss and
agree on annual price increases imposed on customers between
September 2004 and September 2010, the watchdog alleged.
"The behavior is serious on a national level and affected a key
sector of the French economy," antitrust chief Bruno Lasserre
said.
The fines are the second highest imposed by the Autorité de la
Concurrence since the independent body was created in 2008. The
antitrust watchdog has embarked on a series of cartel-busting
operations since then, cracking down on dairies, flour mills,
mobile telephone operators and laundry soap makers, among
others.
The French antitrust authority opened an investigation on the
parcel delivery market in France in 2008 after DB Schenker, a unit
of German railway operator Deutsche Bahn, warned an illegal
agreement scheme was under way and it could provide information in
exchange for leniency.
The investigators found out more than 20 firms in the industry
would agree to fix the annual price increases imposed each
September on small customers, the authority said. For large
customers, the price increase was the starting point for
negotiations that could last several months.
According to documents seized during searches at the
headquarters of the different companies and the industry group,
several officials knew they were violating the competition rules
and concealed the real purpose of the meetings.
Parcel delivery companies eventually stopped the price-rigging,
but only after the competition authority conducted searches in late
2010.
The largest courier firm in France, Geodis SA, a unit of French
state-owned railway operator SNCF, received the highest fine of
EUR196 million. The company said it would contest the decision.
Fines were reduced for companies that didn't contest the
allegations.
FedEx, which was fined EUR17 million, said the antitrust
investigation related to a company that it acquired in 2012, and
later renamed FedEx Express France. Deutsche Post DHL, which was
fined EUR81 million, declined to comment.
TNT, which was fined EUR58 million, said it would review the
decision but had provisioned EUR50 million for a potential fine.
Royal Mail PLC said it has accepted a EUR55.1 million fine.
DB Schenker, which blew the whistle on the alleged price fixing,
was fined EUR3 million as the company didn't fulfill all its
commitments, the authority said. The firm declined to comment.
The antitrust authorities also imposed a EUR1.4 million fine on
15 of France's courier companies which had agreed on price
adjustments related to fuel prices between May 2004 and January
2006.
United Parcel Service, which holds a significant market share in
France, didn't participate in the price-fixing scheme, the watchdog
said.
Rory Gallivan contributed to this article.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 15, 2015 11:15 ET (16:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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