On 19 October, the Commission announced that it had imposed fines of €128.7 million on three producers of special glass used to make cathode ray tubes (CRT). The glass is used in traditional televisions and computer screens. The Commission found that Asahi Glass, Nippon Electric, Schott AG and Samsung Corning Precision Materials (the immunity applicant) had all participated in the EEAwide cartel from 23 February 1999 to 27 December 2004. The cartel operated to co-ordinate prices by virtue of bilateral or trilateral meetings. Furthermore, the companies exchanged confidential and sensitive market information on an ad hoc basis. The decision was achieved as a result of the settlement procedure: the companies acknowledge the infringement and in return receive a 10% reduction in the fine.
This is the fourth Commission decision based on this "streamlined procedure" (previous decisions related to DRAM chips, animal phosphates and washing powder). In this case, as in those preceding it, the benefits to the Commission of the parties agreeing to the settlement procedure are evident. The Commission was able to reach a decision in less than two and half years from the date of the dawn raids at the end of 2008. This is in contrast to full cartel investigations which usually take much longer to complete, particularly because of the administrative process following the issuance of a Statement of Objections. For example, the Commission did not issue its decision in the air cargo cartel until nearly five years after the original dawn raids. Businesses and their advisers are also clearly increasingly recognising the benefits of the procedure, although in their case there is a balance to be struck - and assessed before embarking on the settlement procedure - between the promised reduction in penalty and the lack of ability to challenge the detail of the Commission's findings, which in some cases may secure a greater reduction.
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