Asian firms fined for cartel
“Foreign companies, like European ones, have an obligation to respect competition rules when they do business in Europe,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters in Brussels.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest LCD maker, wasn’t fined because it informed on the cartel and provided “valuable information,” he said.
The LCD panels are the main component of thin, flat monitors used in televisions, computer monitors and notebooks.
The companies sold panels in Europe worth about €7 billion during the cartel, which spanned from October 2001 to February 2006, the EU said. The fine doesn’t cover smaller screens used for handhelds or mobile phones.
Chi Mei, which merged with Innolux in March to form Chimei Innolux, received the largest penalty of €300m. LG, of South Korea, the second-biggest panel maker, was fined €215m. Taiwan’s AU Optronics must pay a financial penalty of €116.8m.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes of Taiwan was fined €9m and HannStar Display, also based in Taiwan, was fined €8.1m.
The manufacturers met around 60 times, usually every month in hotels in Taiwan to agree prices, including price ranges and minimum prices and to swap information on future production plans and capacity, the commission said.
“The fact that the cartel meetings took place outside the EU is no excuse,” Mr Almunia told reporters.
“All of the discussions were clearly illegal under our EU competition rules. The evidence shows that the participants were aware of the illegality of their conduct.”
AU Optronics “expects to appeal the decision to the General Court in Luxembourg and to vigorously defend itself,” spokeswoman Yawen Hsiao said.
The commission, which can fine companies as much as 10% of sales, considers a company’s revenue in the last year before a cartel ends, and the seriousness, duration and geographic scope of the cartel when setting its penalties.
Chi Mei, Taiwan’s biggest maker of LCDs used in televisions, computers and mobile phones, pleaded guilty to US antitrust charges last year and agreed to pay $220m in fines.
