The EC is stepping up legal action against several glass manufacturers that it suspects have been operating an illegal cartel. On 14 March it gave the companies 2 months to reply to the charge that they had fixed prices for flat glass, mainly used for windows. The latest move follows a series of raids by the Commission on companies in Belgium, Germany, France, Sweden & the UK in Feb/05. At the time, it said it had reason to believe the companies may have coordinated price increases & agreed on the introduction of an energy surcharge in the area of flat glass. The Commission refused to identify companies involved & said that it had received information from a leniency programme which reduces or exempts from fines companies that voluntarily provide details of wrongdoing. Jonathan Todd, the Commission's competition policy spokesman, defended the length of time between the launch of the investigation & the formal presentation of antitrust charges. "These investigations are often complicated. It is not unusual for there to be a delay of 2 years between the opening of the investigation & the sending of the statement of objections," he said. He also confirmed that a parallel investigation into a possible car glass cartel, which had involved dawn raids two years ago, was "ongoing". After weighing up the companies' defences, the Commission will decide whether they operated an illegal cartel or not. If it finds they did, it can fine them up to 10% of their world-wide annual turnover.
