Detergent powder cartel settlement
(25 mei 2011)
On 13 April 2011 the European Commission adopted a cartel settlement decision finding that Henkel, Procter & Gamble and Unilever operated a cartel in the market for powder detergent. According to the Commission the cartel was in operation from January 2002 until March 2005 and covered Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.
Procter & Gamble was fined € 211.2 million and Unilever € 104 million. Henkel received full immunity for revealing the existence of the cartel to the Commission.
The cartel came about in the context of an initiative launched by the companies through their trade association called "AISE" (the Association for soaps, detergents and other similar products in Europe) designed to reduce the weight of detergent powders as well as their boxes and bags in order to reduce packaging waste. This underlines once more that there is a heightened risk for competition law violations within trade associations.
This is the third cartel settlement since the settlement procedure was introduced in 2008. The previous two were in the DRAMS and animal feed cases of 2010. It seems that the cartel procedure is becoming “popular” in Brussels. More settlement procedures are apparently in the pipeline. In the Netherlands there is no formal settlement procedure written in the law.
A cartel settlement with the Commission requires the parties inter alia to acknowledge their participation in the cartel, thereby enabling the Commission to conclude the investigation more quickly. The fines on Procter & Gamble and Unilever include a 10% settlement reduction to reward them for this.
In addition, the fines include a reduction of 50% for Procter & Gamble and 25% for Unilever for cooperating with the Commission at the beginning of the investigation under the so-called Leniency programme.