Wax cartel
The wax cartel , also known as the paraffin mafia , is a cartel between ten paraffin wax manufacturers led by Sasol who negotiated prices between 1992 and 2005. The manufacturers covered around three quarters of the European market. The cartel was founded in a Hamburg hotel. Further meetings of the cartel were regularly organized in luxury hotels.
The cartel was uncovered because the Shell group revealed itself as a key witness to the competition authority . On October 1, 2008, the companies involved in the wax cartel were imposed the fourth-highest cartel fine in the history of European competition policy with a total of 676 million euros (as of October 2008).
Penance
- Shell was released from penance as a key witness
- the Sasol group received a 50 percent discount because the group provided further important information about the cartel; the group finally had to pay a fine of 318 million euros
- Total Group 128.2 million euros
- Exxon € 83.6 million
- RWE Group 37.4 million euros
- Eni 29.1 million euros
swell
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 231 of October 2, 2008, page 15
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cartel hunters condemn wax mafia to record fine spiegel.de of October 1, 2008, accessed on March 6, 2012.