EU Fines Four Chemical Companies $350 Million For Running Rubber
January 8, 2008
European
Union regulators levied about $350 million in fines against DuPont and
three other chemical companies for fixing the price of a type of rubber
used to make shoe soles, condoms and other products, according to the
Associated Press. The EU said the cartel operated between 1993 and 2002
and that companies from the U.S., Germany, Italy and Japan colluded to
agree on each others'' market shares and set prices for chloroprene
rubber. Italy''s Eni SpA faced the highest fine of $194.6 million,
followed by U.S.-based DuPont Co., which will pay $71.8 million for the
actions of a former joint venture with Dow Chemical Co. called DuPont
Dow Elastomers LLC. The operation was disbanded in 2005 when Dow
withdrew. DuPont was separately fined an additional $15.6 million.
Japan''s Denka Seiken Co. Ltd. was fined $69.3 million, while Tosoh
Corp. was fined only $7 million because it cooperated with EU
investigators. German chemical maker Bayer AG, due to its role in
playing “whistle-blower” and bringing the cartel to the attention of
the Commission, according to an EU spokesman. Bayer could have been
fined nearly $300 million.
