The European Commission has announced a record fine of €855 million for eight distinct price-fixing cartels in vitamin products.
The two largest fines were €462 million for Roche and €296 million for BASF for fixing the price of vitamins, costing consumers billions of pounds.
"This is the most damaging series of cartels the Commission has ever investigated due to the sheer range of vitamins covered which are found in a multitude of products from cereals, biscuits and drinks to animal feed, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics," EU Competition Commissioner Mr Mario Monti said in a statement today.
The other companies fined were Aventis of France – €5.04 million , Solvay – €9.1 million, Merck of Germany – €9.24 million, Daiichi of Japan – €23.4 million, Eisai of Japan €13.23 million and Takeda Chemical Industries €37.05 million.
The conspiracies involved vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, D3, C, E Beta Carotene and vitamin premixes.
The fines are on top of billions of dollars the firms have already paid in record fines and settlements in the United States, arising from an illegal cartel that forced consumers around the world to pay more for everything containing vitamins.
The new European Union fine exceeds that imposed on the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement of ocean shippers in 1998, which totalled €272.9 million.