On 27 March 2014, the European Court announced its decision to reduce from €880 million to €715 million, the fine imposed for cartel activity upon subsidiaries of the Saint-Gobain Group and its parent company. The fine had been the largest ever imposed by the European Commission, for participation between 1998 and 2003 in the car-glass cartel. In 2008 the Commission fined four car-glass makers €1.3 billion for participating in a cartel between 1998 and 2003.

Saint-Gobain had been the subject of previous Commission decisions relating to similar infringements in 1984 and 1988. The 2006 Fining Guidelines give the Commission the power to increase fines by 100% for repeat offending, even if the infringements took place long before the existence of the cartel in question. In this instance, the Commission increased Saint-Gobain’s fine by 60% for earlier violations.

However, the European General Court decided that, for repeated infringement to count as an aggravating circumstance, the infringements must have been committed by the same undertaking. Since the 1988 decision concerned a different subsidiary of the same parent, it was decided that a finding of repeated infringement applied only to the 1984 decision. The Court pointed out that the passage of a long period of time since the adoption of an earlier decision may make it more difficult, if not impossible, for the parent company to contest the circumstances upon which a finding of repeated infringement was based.

On 18 March 2014, MEPs and European Council representatives agreed on the terms of a new proposed directive on antitrust damages. The measure, which is expected to become law before the European elections in May 2014, is intended to make it easier for victims of cartel activity to claim compensation.

The main changes to the law will be that:

• Decisions of national competition authorities will constitute full proof before civil courts that the infringement occurred.
• Clear limitation period rules will be established.
• Victims will be able to obtain full compensation for lost profits as well as actual loss suffered.
• A rebuttable presumption that cartels cause harm will be established, and
• Victims will have easier access to evidence to pursue cases.

Joaquín Almunia, the European Commissioner for Competition, said: “This directive will remove the barriers that currently prevent the victims of antitrust infringements in the EU from obtaining effective compensation. At the same time, it will ensure an adequate and balanced interaction between actions for damages and the effective public enforcement of competition law by the Commission and national competition authorities.”

On 18 March 2014 Italy’s Competition Authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (“AGCM”), announced the launch of a bid-rigging investigation into Chef Express S.p.A. and My Chef Ristorazione Commerciale S.p.A. Both companies manage motorway service restaurants.

The independent company managing the submission process for tenders drew the attention of the authorities to evidence of collusion. According to the AGCM, evidence indicated that the two companies had colluded on bids for 16 of the 43 licences available. It has been alleged that they intended to take 8 licences each.

The investigation is the latest in a series of probes into bid-rigging in Italy. The rail sector is one of the more prominent recent investigations. For the last 15 years, Italy’s motorway service restaurants have been controlled by Autogrill, which is majority owned by the company that runs Italy’s motorways, Autostrade. Both are controlled by the Benetton family.

Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee said on 14^th October 2013 that it had opened an investigation into Vladislav Baumgertner, CEO of potash producer Uralkali, on suspicion of abuse of power. Russian authorities confirmed that they would be seeking Mr Baumgertner’s extradition from Belarus, where he is currently under house arrest on charges of embezzlement and abuse of power.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation outlaws cartel agreements under Article 178, imposing fines of up to one million roubles, maximum seven year prison sentences or three years of compulsory labour.

However, it was Uralkali’s withdrawal from a potash sales cartel with Belarusian producer Belaruskali, leading to a sharp downward slide in prices, which reportedly led to Mr Baumgertner’s arrest by authorities in Minsk in August 2013. Together the cartel controlled approximately forty per cent of global potash exports. Belaruskali and Uralkali are the world’s two largest producers of potash.

Belarus has called for the arrest of Uralkali’s billionaire shareholder Suleiman Kerimov, who has since reportedly entered into negotiations to sell his stake. Potash, a soil nutrient, provides twelve per cent of the state revenue of Belarus and ten per cent of its export income. Uralkali’s withdrawal from the cartel is reported to have been unwelcome news for Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has urged the two sides to collaborate once again in a cartel once valued at approximately $20 billion per annum.

Latest reports have suggested that Russia’s preparations for an extradition request for Mr Baumgertner are well advanced.