The EC ruled that the four companies colluded to coordinate the sales prices of various types of foam for nearly five years, from October 2005 until July 2010, in 10 EU member states – Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the UK.
Vita was not fined as it benefited from immunity under the Commission's 2006 Leniency Notice for revealing the existence of the cartel to the Commission. Eurofoam, a joint venture between Recticel and Greiner Holding AG, received reductions of their fines for their cooperation in the investigation under the Commission's leniency programme. Since all companies agreed to settle the case with the Commission, their fines were further reduced by 10%. Carpenter ended up bearing the brunt of the fine at over €75m.
Commission vice president in charge of competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, says: "Cartels harm our entire economy and cannot be tolerated. This case illustrates how essential it is to keep fighting and sanctioning such illegal behaviour: here the cartelised product is both a key component of the furniture bought by all citizens, such as mattresses and sofas, and a significant input for certain businesses, for example car makers".
The aim of the cartel was to pass on raw material price increases of bulk chemicals to customers and avoid aggressive price competition between the four producers. In order to achieve this goal, the cartelists organised price coordination meetings at all levels of European management. The participants met on the margins of European and national associations and had numerous telephone and other bilateral contacts. The cartel operated for almost five years, from October 2005 until July 2010.
