Plasterboard cartel

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According to investigations by the EU Commission, the so-called plasterboard cartel is made up of four building material groups that until 1997 had made unauthorized agreements in the field of plasterboard production to the detriment of customers.

Following unannounced audits on the premises of the companies concerned in the course of 1998, the following penalties were recognized:

  • About the French cement producer Lafarge one was fined 249.6 million euros imposed;
  • the British building materials group BPB was sentenced to payments of 138.6 million euros;
  • the German company Knauf had to pay 85.8 million euros
  • the small remainder of 4 million euros was paid by the Belgian Gyproc , who later joined the building materials cartel

Overall, a fine of around 478 million euros was imposed on November 27, 2002 , as it was the largest market in the European Union for decades that the Commission had investigated. After all, the markets in France , the United Kingdom , Germany and the Benelux countries and thus around 80% of consumers in the EU at the time were affected.

Since agreements to the detriment of consumers or customers are strictly prohibited in the EU, penalties of up to 10% of an annual turnover can generally be imposed . However, this level has not even come close to being reached. The highest fine to date of 497.2 million euros, which was imposed on Microsoft at the beginning of 2004 due to the obstacle to competition with its media player (and is not yet legally binding), does not even represent 2% of the software giant's annual turnover Knauf company says it has an annual turnover of around 4.0 billion euros.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gypsum board cartel: EU Commission imposes heavy fines on four companies

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