Saint-Gobain has seen its EU cartel fine cut due to a calculation error in the original penalty. Plikington’s fine was also cut. A statement from the EU authority said that: … “Some of the sales of these two companies should not have been included in the sales figure used as a basis to set their respective fines.”
Saint-Gobain’s record European Union cartel fine was reduced to EUR 880 million (USD 1.15 billion), or less than 2%, after regulators said they corrected a calculation error in the original penalty.
Pilkington also had its fine cut to EUR 357 million from EUR 370 million, or 3.5%, the European Commission reported in a statement.
“The corrections became necessary because of two errors in computing the fines,” the Brussels-based authority said in the statement. “Some of the sales of these two companies should not have been included in the sales figure used as a basis to set their respective fines.”
Saint-Gobain got a EUR 896-million penalty in 2008, the highest EU cartel fine against a single company, for plotting with rivals to fix the price of car windows sold to auto manufacturers from 1998 to 2003. Saint-Gobain’s penalty was increased because the company was a repeat offender already punished for a separate cartel to fix prices for glass used in the construction industry.
Saint-Gobain and Pilkington have challenged the fines at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg.
EU antitrust fines are based on sales of products concerned and are capped at a maximum of 10% of companies’ total annual revenues.