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The
European Commission last week raided Europe's largest pulp
producers Stora Enso and UPM, and Metsa Board unit Metsa Fibre,
the first in two years as the COVID-19 pandemic halted such
actions.
Companies suspected of taking part in other cartels should soon
see officials knocking on their doors, EU Competition
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
"And that's just the start of a series of raids that we're
planning for the months to come – you'll understand if I don't
say exactly when or where they're going to happen," she told a
conference organised by the Italian anti-trust authority in
Rome.
Companies found guilty of taking part in cartels face fines as
much as 10% of their global turnover. Whistleblowers are
rewarded with immunity from sanctions while those who provide
crucial information can get hefty reductions in their penalties.
She said regulators may sweeten such so-called leniency deals
with companies as the growth in private damages claims from
customers deter many from sharing key data with enforcers.
Vestager also criticised "no-poach" agreements between
companies, saying that this could create a cartel, a sign that
she may be mulling action.
Individuals are directly effected "when companies collude to fix
the wages they pay or when they use so-called 'no-poach'
agreements as an indirect way to keep wages down, restricting
talent from moving where it serves the economy best", she said.
No-poach agreements, in which companies agree not to hire each
others' workers, and non-compete agreements, in which workers
sign contracts pledging not to leave to work for a rival, have
in recent years drawn criticism.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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