France's Antitrust Watchdog Fines 20 Courier Companies $738.7 Million -- Update
December 15 2015 - 5:40AM
Dow Jones News
By Inti Landauro
PARIS--France's antitrust watchdog Tuesday fined 20 courier
companies a combined 672 million euros ($738.7 million) for fixing
price increases for parcel delivery services for six years.
Executives from a group of courier service companies, that
included local firms as well as large foreign ones, such as Federal
Express, Deutsche Post DHL and TNT, met on the sidelines of an
industry group TLF, to discuss and agree price increases imposed on
customers between September 2004 and September 2010, the watchdog
said.
The largest player in France, Geodis, a unit of French
state-owned railway operator SNCF, received the heaviest fine at
EUR196 million. Fines on smaller companies were reduced to take
into account their financial difficulties.
The combined fines are one of the biggest ever set by French
antitrust authorities and represent the latest in a long list of
cartel-busting efforts in the European Union. France's antitrust
authority in recent years cracked down on dairy, flour mills and
laundry soap makers.
The antitrust authorities also imposed a EUR1.4 million fine on
15 of the country's courier companies who agreed on price
adjustments related to fuel prices between May 2004 and January
2006.
Separately, Royal Mail PLC said it has accepted a EUR55.1
million fine from the French competition authorities for antitrust
breaches at its parcel delivery business GLS. The U.K.'s former
state-owned letter and parcel delivery company said the fine would
have been higher if it had contested the allegations.
"Royal Mail recognises the absolute need to comply with European
and national competition law and the necessity to prevent
infringements," it said on Tuesday.
"It has implemented an enhanced compliance programme in GLS
France in order to strengthen the culture of competition law
compliance," it added.
Royal Mail didn't give details of the antitrust breaches it was
fined for, but has previously said that the French competition
authorities were investigating GLS as part of a broader
investigation into the delivery sector in France.
Rory Gallivan contributed to this article.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 15, 2015 05:25 ET (10:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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