The European Court of Justice has reduced a €9 million fine imposed on a plastics and heating wing of the Quinn Group for its part in a cartel that illegally fixed the price of acrylic glass.

The fine, imposed on Quinn Barlo in 2006 by the European Commission, was reduced to €8.25 million following an appeal to the court by the Quinn Group and other firms alleged to have been part of the cartel.

The other companies affected in the case were: French firm Arkema, British chemicals company ICI and British acrylics producer Lucite. German firm Degussa was spared a fine after it took advantage of the EU leniency programme created for firms that provide information about price fixing.

The original investigation found that the five companies had agreed, fixed and monitored prices for acrylic glass, and exchanged commercially important and confidential information in the EU between 1997 and 2002.

It pinpointed a meeting in a Dublin hotel in October 1999 between the competing firms at which officials co-ordinated an increase in the European price level for types of acrylic glass widely used in the car industry for the production of tail lamps and glass for dashboards.

Total fines imposed by the commission in the case amounted to €344.56 million, one of the highest ever imposed by the EU in a price fixing and cartel case. Acrylic glass is widely used in cars, DVDs, lenses and household appliances.

The court today said the evidence was insufficient to establish the entire period of the infringement and that it had annulled the contested elements for the period from November 1st, 1998 to February 23rd, 2000.

The fine had been accordingly reduced, the court added.