Competition: Commission imposes fine for running of Greco-Italian ferry cartel.

United Kingdom

On December 9, 1998, the Commission imposed fines on seven ferry operators who had been operating as a price cartel, even though many of the members had not honoured their own illegal agreements. The fines totalling ECU 9.2 million were the result of an investigation which began with dawn raids at the offices of six ferry operators in July 1994.

The Commission concluded that the companies had been running a cartel for several years but the fines have been kept at a low level as the companies had co-operated with the investigation and the cartel had not adversely affected the market. In this case the market concerned routes between Greece and Italy over the summer months. Had the impact been greater the Commission would have regarded such an infringement as extremely serious.