France's Antitrust Watchdog Fines 20 Courier Companies $738.7 Million -- Update

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)

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