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The Market Court finds in its decision issued today that during 1997-2004 the forestry companies Metsäliitto Cooperative, Stora Enso Plc and UPM-Kymmene Plc were guilty of forbidden national price-fixing and exchange of information in the purchase of timber.
The Market Court imposed competition infringement fines for conduct violating the Competition Act totalling EUR 51 million: €30m to Stora Enso and €21m to Metsäliitto. The size of the fine is the same as in the FCA's 2006 Market Court proposal.
UPM-Kymmene Plc was exempted from the infringement fine because in May 2004 it disclosed information on the unlawful conduct to the FCA and delivered information regarding the cartel to the authority. Metsäliitto also assisted the FCA in investigating the matter, due to which its infringement fine was reduced by 30%.
This was a second time the Market Court solved a case in which cartel fines were imposed for a cartel disclosed on the basis of the leniency system. The previous decision issued in February 2009 concerned a cartel in the automobile spare parts market.
The decisions issued by the Market Court this year and the one issued by the Supreme Administrative Court in the autumn in the asphalt case are major decisions for anti-cartel policy.
Serious infringement involved
Cartels between competitors are considered the most serious competition restraint. The present case involved a price-fixing cartel by the buyer. The explicit purpose of the national, long-lasting cooperation was to limit mutual competition and to jointly govern the price of timber.
Also incriminating was the fact that fines had been imposed on the same companies before for restricting competition in the purchase of timber (cf. the decision by the Supreme Administrative Court 20.12.2001, diary no 3670, 3684, 3685/2/00 copy 3179, in Finnish).
Further information:
Director Kirsi Leivo, tel. +358 9 7314 3351
Senior Research Officer Saara Vahvaselkä, tel. +358 9 7314 3326
"A price-fixing cartel is an arrangement whereby the sellers of products or services on the same production or distribution level either directly agree on the prices of their products (purchasing and selling cartels) or other factors affecting the price or the pricing principles, such as discounts, provisions, terms of payment or guarantees. In a price-fixing cartel, it may also be agreed that a certain price may not be undercut or exceeded. Statistical cooperation or other exchange of information between undertakings may also be forbidden if the undertakings exchange detailed information on prices, sales or costs with each other. In addition to the nature of the information, what is decisive is the structure of the market, the age of the information exchanged as well as its frequency and transparency. The above-mentioned price cooperation is forbidden by the Competition Act, whether it be based on written or oral agreement or tacit understanding. The legal form of the cooperation is not decisive either."
Source: www.kilpailuvirasto.fi
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