The European Commission has imposed its second-largest ever fine. Ten companies must pay €313.7 million for operating a price-fixing cartel in the market for carbonless copy paper.
Fines included a €184.3 million penalty for Arjo Wiggins Appleton, the British paper and packaging firm recently acquired by French financial services and holding company Worms & Cie.
"The Commission has uncovered evidence that, in order to ensure implementation of the agreed price increases, a sales quota was allocated to the various participants and a market share was fixed for them," it said in a statement today.
Total annual sales of carbonless paper, with coatings that allow the user to transfer images from one sheet to the next without using carbon paper, amount to about €850 million.
The Commission's long-running investigation began in 1996 and it raided or visited 17 companies in 1997. In 2000 it sent the companies a statement of objection.
The investigation revealed that the cartel members met regularly, including five general meetings between September 1993 and February 1995 in hotels in Paris and Frankfurt.
Austria's Papierfabrik August Koehler and Zanders Feinpapiere were fined €33.1 and €29.8 million respectively. Bollore received a €22.7 million penalty and Mitsubishi HiTech Paper Bielefeld GmbH €21.2 million.
Others were Torraspapel €14.17 million, Papeteries Mougeot 3€.64 million, Distribuidora Vizcaina de Papeles €1.75 million, Carrs Paper €1.57 million and Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicunaga €1.54 million euros.