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General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: nowlan on March 22, 2018, 09:30:35 am

Title: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: nowlan on March 22, 2018, 09:30:35 am
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-2281_en.htm (http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-2281_en.htm)

Brussels, 21 March 2018

The European Commission has fined Elna, Hitachi Chemical, Holy Stone, Matsuo, NEC Tokin, Nichicon, Nippon Chemi-Con, Rubycon € 253 935 000. Together with the immunity applicant, Sanyo, they operated a cartel for the supply of aluminium and tantalum electrolytic capacitors between 1998 and 2012.
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: jpanhalt on March 22, 2018, 10:41:12 am
One has to love this rationale, "Our decision again makes clear that we will not tolerate anti-competitive conduct that may affect European consumers, even if anticompetitive contacts take place outside Europe."

Presumably, anticompetitive contacts in China will be next on the EU's agenda to fine.  Will than come before or after OPEC is fined and precluded from exporting petroleum to EU?
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: Harb on March 22, 2018, 10:47:35 am
So are they being charged ?.........and did they put up any resistance.
I wonder who leaked the information........
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: RoGeorge on March 22, 2018, 10:53:17 am
Does this mean that those corporations are not allowed to sell capacitors in EU if they refuse to pay?
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: jpanhalt on March 22, 2018, 10:55:53 am
Isn't the EU a cartel in its own right?

Definition:
Quote
historical
a coalition or cooperative arrangement between political parties intended to promote a mutual interest.
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: Brumby on March 22, 2018, 10:57:00 am
So are they being charged ?.........and did they put up any resistance.
I wonder who leaked the information........

 :palm:   There's always one.
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: plazma on March 22, 2018, 11:16:58 am
So are they being charged ?.........and did they put up any resistance.
I wonder who leaked the information........

 :palm:   There's always one.
I guess Sanyo told about the cartel and got  immunity for it.
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: Electro Detective on March 24, 2018, 12:00:04 am
254 million for them is loose change for friday beers at the pub   :popcorn: 
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: wraper on March 24, 2018, 12:25:09 am
So are they being charged ?.........and did they put up any resistance.
I wonder who leaked the information........

 :palm:   There's always one.
I guess Sanyo told about the cartel and got  immunity for it.
As sanyo was acquired by Panasonic quiet a time ago, probably Panasonic decided to screw over it's competitors.

Quote
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. and its parent Panasonic Corporation received full immunity for revealing the existence of the cartel to the Commission, thereby avoiding an aggregate fine of ca. € 32 389 000.
Quote
The Commission's investigation started in spring 2014, following an immunity application under the Commission Leniency Notice submitted by Panasonic Corporation and its subsidiaries.
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: nanofrog on March 24, 2018, 01:37:18 am
The following is from the article linked above.

Quote
Under the Commission's 2006 Leniency Notice:
  • Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. and its parent Panasonic Corporation received full immunity for revealing the existence of the cartel to the Commission, thereby avoiding an aggregate fine of ca. € 32 389 000.
  • Hitachi Chemical, Rubycon, Elna and NEC Tokin benefited from reductions of their fines for cooperating with the Commission's investigation. The reductions reflect the timing of their cooperation and the extent to which the evidence each company provided helped the Commission to prove the existence of the cartel.
  • Rubycon was the first to submit compelling evidence that allowed the Commission to extend the duration of the infringement from June 1998 to August 2003. As a result, this period is not taken into account when setting the fine for Rubycon.
The breakdown of the fines imposed on each company is as follows:

(http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/avs/files/video6/repository/prod/photo/store/7/P036647000102-624574.jpg)

So Panasonic definitely started the ball rolling and got a free pass in return. Then others started cooperating for leniency on the fines imposed.

^Definitely motivated by self-interest of course.  ::)  :horse:
Title: Re: Antitrust Commission fines eight producers of capacitors €254 million
Post by: DimitriP on March 24, 2018, 01:37:27 am
Quote
It said the cartel ran from 1998 to 2012, with meetings taking place mainly in Japan but the operation was on a global scale.

Idiots.
Should've skyped , played golf,  gone hunting , sailing, or vacationed at a resort in the bahamas