Unilever is fined £92m for price fix

By Rupert Steiner for the Daily Mail
Updated:

 

Unilever, the consumer goods giant behind Persil, has been fined £92.6m by competition watchdogs for fixing prices in the washing powder market.

Persil

Dirty: Fined for fixing washing powder prices

The Anglo-Dutch firm and US rival Procter & Gamble, which makes Ariel, were hit with a £280.5m penalty which was reduced after the two firms struck a deal with the European Commission for admitting they participated in a cartel.

The commission said the pair, together with rival Henkel, shared information about pricing in eight countries when they worked together to reduce the environmental impact of their products.

Henkel was not fined after it informed Unilever and P&G to the regulator.

The commission could have fined all the firms as much as 10% of global sales.

Unilever (up 13.00p to 1928p) said its internal compliance procedures have since been strengthened and key managers had been retrained on the competition rules.

The three companies had been working on environmental measures together but the commission said they also shared financial information.

The commission said the cartel existed in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands between 2002 and 2005.

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