Vitamin price fixing
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
European Commission levies $751.3 mil. fine against eight firms Nov. 21 "for participating in...distinct secret market-sharing and price-fixing cartels affecting vitamin product" from September 1989 to February 1999. Firms charged are Hoffmann-La Roche, BASF, Aventis, Merck KgaA, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Daiichi Pharmaceutical, Eisai and Takeda Chemical Industries. Since Hoffmann-La Roche "participated in all the cartels," it received the highest fine of $405.9 mil. (1 Euro=$.878). EC decision comes roughly two years after the U.S. Department of Justice levied criminal fines of more than $850 mil. (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 13, 1999, p. 4)...