Following a 2007 cartel decision of the Greek competition authority imposing a total fine of EUR 48.3m on seven companies for information sharing, price fixing and retail price maintenance, a Greek court handed down a criminal judgment yesterday (12 April 2011), imposing fines of 9,000 euros on each of the three managers of one of the firms. The case was brought by the public prosecutor.
While the amount of the fines is relatively low, this appears to be the first such criminal conviction in Greece. It shows that the criminalisation of antitrust laws in Europe gains ground.
The Greek law applicable at the time of the infringement made provision only for pecuniary sanction but has changed since and now includes the possibility of prison sentences.
Today the Department of Justice announced that Horizon Lines LLC agreed to plead guilty and pay a $45 million fine for its involvement in price fixing coastal water freight services between the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico. This plea is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the coastal water freight transportation industry. As a result of the investigation, five former executives have been charged and sentenced to serve prison time.
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