Court upholds Lafarge antitrust fine
The European Court of Justice confirmed yesterday a fine of EUR 249.6 million (USD308.7m) imposed on French cement maker Lafarge for anticompetitive practices in the plasterboard market.
The European Commission, the EU competition watchdog, had imposed a fine of EUR478mn in 2002 on Lafarge and its peers Gyproc (Belgium), BPB Ltd (UK) and Knauf (Germany) for illegally exchanging information on sales volumes and fixed prices in the plasterboard markets in the UK, France and Benelux, the court stated. The EU executive had increased Lafarge’s fine by 50 per cent because it was a repeat offender, but the company was unable to overturn this ruling in subsequent appeal.
Shares in Lafarge were largely unaffected by the news, inching down 0.02% to EUR 50.31 yesterday at close in Paris. Published under Cement News
