COMPRESSOR manufacturer Danfoss has been fined a massive €90m by the European Commission for its part in the cartel conspiracy which has already brought fines for some companies in the US, Canada and Brazil. Also fined by the EC were ACC, Embraco and Panasonic in a total fine for the cartel participants of over €161m.
The fine includes a reduction for the companies' acknowledgement of their participation in the cartel that covered the whole European Economic Area from April 2004 until October 2007 (15 November 2006 for Panasonic). Tecumseh was not fined by the European Commission as it benefited from immunity for revealing the existence of the cartel.
Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, said: 'I want to send a message to everybody that the Commission's dedicated cartelbusters continue to detect, hunt down and punish cartels. At a time of economic hardship it is all the more important to promote fair competition and step up the fight against cartels which inflict serious damage on productivity and economic growth.'
In addition to Danfoss' fine, Appliances Components Companies SpA and its subsidiary Elettromeccanica SpA were fined €9m, Embraco Europe Srl (Italy) and parent Whirlpool S.A.(Brazil) €54,530,000 and Panasonic (Japan) €7,668,000.
Tecumseh received full immunity from fines. Reductions for cooperation under the Leniency Notice were granted to Panasonic, ACC, Embraco and Danfoss while Embraco received a further reduction for its cooperation outside the leniency notice.
The fact that Panasonic was not involved in all aspects of the cartel was also taken into account by the Commission when setting the fines.
