Six companies who fixed the markets for television and
computer screen tubes over a 10-year period have been hit with a record fine of
1.47 billion euros.
The European Commission said the companies were fully aware
that their attempts to fix prices, share markets and coordinate production of
cathode ray tubes between 1996 and 2006 were illegal.
Related: LCD maker hit with $500 million antitrust fine
Dutch-based Philips was hit with the biggest individual fine
of 313.4 million euros, while South Korea's LG Electronics received a fine of
295.6 million. Philips and LG were also jointly liable for a fine worth 392
million euros.
Chungwa escaped punishment because it blew the screech on
the cartel.
Cathode-ray tubes have largely been replaced by
liquid-crystal display (LCD), plasma technology and light-emitting diodes
(LED). But they used to account for up to 70% of the price of a screen.
The commission said the cartel was trying to limit the
impact of the decline in the industry at the expense of consumers.
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It also published details showing the complexity of the
cartel's operations.
Top managers from the firms would set the high-level
framework at "green meetings" -- so called because they were often
followed by a game of golf -- while detailed implementation would be agreed
upon by junior executives who sometimes met as often as every week in Asia and
Europe.
Plant visits would be carried out to ensure compliance with
agreed limits on capacity, and some papers discovered during the anti-trust
investigation carried the instructions: "Please dispose of the following
document after reading it."
The previous record for a European anti-trust fine was 1.38
billion euros, imposed by the European Commission on a car glass cartel in
2008.
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