EU Court Lowers Fines for Daiichi, BASF

EU Court Lowers Fines for Daiichi, BASF

BRUSSELSA European Union (EU) court lowered fines levied againstDaiichi Pharmaceutical Co. and BASF in a 2001 decision alleging vitaminprice-fixing and cartel activities. BASFs fine was cut from 296 million eurosto 236.85 million euros, while Daiichis fine was reduced to 18 million eurosfrom 23.4 million euros.

In a statement, the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance found:The commission failed to establish that BASF had acted as instigator orleader of the cartels ... [and] committed certain errors when calculating thefines. In particular, the court determined the cooperation of Daiichi andBASF in the investigation should have carried more weight when levying fines.When the fines were imposed on the related companies, they totaled 855.2 millioneuros, the highest levied on a single cartel.