€1.5bn fine for TV manufacturers

Commission says cartel was one of the most organised it had ever investigated.

The European Union is to impose a record fine of €1.5 billion on seven electronics companies, Joaquin Almunia, the European commissioner for competition, announced today (5 December).

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The Commission says the seven companies – including LG, Philips, Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba – were active in two cartels in the market for cathode-ray tubes between 1996 and 2006. They are accused of fixing prices, sharing markets and allocating customers between themselves. Chungwa, which was also involved, received immunity because it reported the case to the Commission.

One of the cartels concerned tubes used in televisions and the other was for computer monitors. Both of the cartels were active worldwide. The Commission says the companies colluded to fix 50%-70% of prices in these markets.

“These cartels for cathode-ray tubes are textbook cartels,” said Almunia. “They feature all the worst kinds of anti-competitive behaviour that are strictly forbidden to companies doing business in Europe. Cathode-ray tubes were a very important component in the making of television and computer screens. They accounted for 50%-70% of the price of a screen.”

He said the cartels were among the most organised that the Commission had ever investigated.

The Commission’s investigation, which began in 2007, revealed that the companies were well aware they were breaking the law. One document warned the participants: “Everybody is requested to keep it as secret as it would [cause] serious damage if it is open to customers or European Commission.”

Most of the companies no longer make cathode-ray tubes, since the industry now mostly uses liquid crystal (LCD) or light emitting diode (LED) technologies.