The European Union has begun an investigation into whether or not Standard & Poor’s, the international credit rating company, has violated antitrust laws by overcharging its customers for the use of Cusip numbers. Cusip numbers, nine digit numbers assigned to companies’ securities in order to help track trades, are sold to companies by Standard [...]

Last year the European Commission levied billions in fines against cartels in the glass industry, this year it raided companies in the special glass sector under suspicion of cartel activity. The EC didn’t reveal the names of the companies it raided, but said special glass sector refers to companies that produce glass “used for [...]

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it had levied the fourth largest fine against a cartel in the history of the EU. This time, it came out to €676 million and went against the wax industry.

Several major pharmaceutical companies were raided by European authorities yesterday as part of an investigation into whether or not they colluded to keep prices of their drugs high after their patents had expired. The UK’s Financial Times reports that Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis were some of the companies

She’s mad as hell and she’s not going to take it anymore…and now she’s going to “fight like hell” to do something about it. Apparently a record-breaking fine of $1.3 billion against elevator cartels didn’t get the message across as clear as she’d like (note: fines levied against cartels could be as steep as [...]

Thomas Barnett, the head of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division who was recently thrust in the spotlight for his protest of the EU decision to throw out Microsoft’s antitrust appeal, further explained his position during a recent speech at Georgetown University.

In 2007 the European Commission issed the largest fine in the EU’s history- a whopping €990 million (that’s $1.3 billion, folks). In spite of recent criticism, an EC spokesman revealed that the Commission intends to continue increasing fines. As EC spokesman Jonathan Todd explained, the Commission has “increased the level of fines . . . [...]

After Microsoft’s sound legal defeat at the hands of the EU’s Court of First Instance on Monday, experts debate the future impact and role of the European Commission (EC) in world business. The conflict stretches from legal experts in support of the ruling to U.S. government officials such as Thomas Barnett, the Assistant Attorney [...]

A new study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, an independent UK government department established to protect public health, found that certain artificial colors and additives in food can lead to hyperactivity disorder in children. It’s believed that the new study will pressure the food and drink industry to remove certain artificial colors and additives [...]

The European Federation of Wine and Spirits Importers and Distributors (EFWSID) raised complaints with The European Commission on Thursday over the lack of competition in glass bottle manufacturing. The EFWSID believes a lack of competition has caused the price of glass bottles to increase.
The Belgian Federation of Wine and Spirits, a member of the [...]

Italy’s antitrust authority has fined Bristol-Myers Squibb $3.2 million for illegal collusion with competitors in the colostomy bag market (competitors Coloplast SpA, Hollister SpA, and B Braun Milano SpA were also fined lesser amounts for similar anti-competitive behaviour).
At issue is that the four companies (which control 95% of the colostomy bag market in the country), [...]

EU regulators said Thursday that they had charged makers of an industrial bleach (sodium chlorate) with illegal price-fixing and running a cartel. Sodium chlorate is mainly used as a bleaching agent in the pulp and paper sector. Both Finland’s Kemira Oyj and Netherlands-based Akzo Nobel NV confirmed that they had received the charges.
If [...]

Two months ago, we noted that British Airways (BA) had set aside $700 million in anticipation of fines from the U.S. Department of Justice on the heels of price-fixing and illegal collusion investigations (as well as to pay for editing to James Bond movies).
Now the price has come in and BA [...]

We’ll start in Europe, where regulators decided to bring antitrust charges against Intel, the world’s largest computer chip maker. This capped a six-year investigation into allegations of illegal discounts to personal computer makers.
If determined to be guilty, Intel faces up a fine of up to 10% of its European sales during the [...]

The French competition regulator, Conseil de la Concurrence, has fined the country’s three mobile telephone companies (Orange France, FranC’aise du Radiot, and Bouygues Telecom SA) a total of $631 million for illegally restricting competition.
Investigators found that between 1997 and 2003, the operators regularly exchanged information about new and canceled contracts and used this information [...]

European Union regulators have halted their probe into an alleged price-fixing scheme by BASF AG, France’s Arkema SA and other competitors. BASF, the world’s largest producer of chemicals, has been a target in an investigation into the plastics additives industry since 2003, when the case began with coordinated and simultaneous raids of BASF and other [...]