BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - EU regulators said Wednesday they had charged several sea transport companies with running a cartel for shipping bulk liquids on ocean routes.
Norwegian shipper Odfjell Seachem AS said it had been charged, four years after it settled a price-fixing probe by U.S. regulators that fined it $42.5 million and sent two executives to jail.
The European Union charges allege that the companies allocated customers, rigged bids, fixed prices and swapped confidential market information, actions that illegally restricted competition on the EU market.
The European Commission never names companies it is investigating on cartel charges until it comes to a final decision on whether or not to fine them.
Companies have two months to respond in writing to the charges, and can seek a hearing one month after that before regulators take a final decision to fine them up to 10 percent of a company's total worldwide annual turnover.
The EU executive said it was following up on raids made in February 2003 and on information supplied since then by whistleblowers.
At that time one shipper, the Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group, said it had been offered EU immunity for cooperating with regulators in the industrywide probe.
Odfjell was also raided. The company said Wednesday that it had cooperated closely with EU regulators over the past four years and would continue to do so.
''Since the investigations began, Odfjell ASA has strengthened its internal competition compliance program and has conducted training of all relevant personnel,'' it said.
The EU charges come years after the U.S. Department of Justice said both shippers had violated U.S. antitrust law for fixing the cost of shipping bulk chemicals, edible oils, acids and other specialty liquids.
In 2003, U.S. regulators settled with Odfjell, allowing the company to pay a fine over five years. President and CEO Bjoern Sjaastad also agreed to pay a $250,000 fine and spent four months in a U.S. jail. Vice president Erik Nilsen paid a $25,000 fine and accepted a prison sentence of three months.
Last September, the DOJ indicted Luxembourg-based Stolt-Nielsen SA, two subsidiaries and two former executives for fixing the price of shipping bulk liquids, after the company doggedly fought prosecution efforts.
It had earlier filed unsuccessful appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court to bar the indictment and appeal a U.S. government decision to revoke amnesty agreements. Justice officials withdrew prosecution immunity in 2004, saying the company had not met the terms of the deal.
Dow Chemical Co. and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corp. took legal action in 2003 to seek damages from four shipping companies charged with price fixing: Jo Tankers BV of the Netherlands and Japan's Tokyo Marine Co. as well as Stolt-Nielsen and Odjfell.
The European Commission never names companies it is investigating on cartel charges until it comes to a final decision on whether or not to fine them.
Companies have two months to respond in writing to the charges, and can seek a hearing one month after that before regulators take a final decision to fine them up to 10 percent of a company's total worldwide annual turnover.
The EU executive said it was following up on raids made in February 2003 and on information supplied since then by whistleblowers.
At that time one shipper, the Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group, said it had been offered EU immunity for cooperating with regulators in the industrywide probe.
Odfjell was also raided. The company said Wednesday that it had cooperated closely with EU regulators over the past four years and would continue to do so.
''Since the investigations began, Odfjell ASA has strengthened its internal competition compliance program and has conducted training of all relevant personnel,'' it said.
The EU charges come years after the U.S. Department of Justice said both shippers had violated U.S. antitrust law for fixing the cost of shipping bulk chemicals, edible oils, acids and other specialty liquids.
In 2003, U.S. regulators settled with Odfjell, allowing the company to pay a fine over five years. President and CEO Bjoern Sjaastad also agreed to pay a $250,000 fine and spent four months in a U.S. jail. Vice president Erik Nilsen paid a $25,000 fine and accepted a prison sentence of three months.
Last September, the DOJ indicted Luxembourg-based Stolt-Nielsen SA, two subsidiaries and two former executives for fixing the price of shipping bulk liquids, after the company doggedly fought prosecution efforts.
It had earlier filed unsuccessful appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court to bar the indictment and appeal a U.S. government decision to revoke amnesty agreements. Justice officials withdrew prosecution immunity in 2004, saying the company had not met the terms of the deal.
Dow Chemical Co. and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corp. took legal action in 2003 to seek damages from four shipping companies charged with price fixing: Jo Tankers BV of the Netherlands and Japan's Tokyo Marine Co. as well as Stolt-Nielsen and Odjfell.
