The EU Commission imposed a record fine of €855 million on vitamin producers, including BASF and Roche, found guilty of operating a price cartel. The Commission fined Roche €462 million and BASF €296 million for their parts in a conspiracy to fix the price of some highly popular vitamins. Both Roche in Basel, Switzerland and BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany, said they might appeal. Of the 13 companies concerned by the EU investigation, eight received fines. In addition to Roche and BASF, the groups fined were Merck, Solvay Pharmaceutical, Aventis, Takeda, Daiichi and Eisai.

EU Competition Commissioner Mr Mario Monti said it was the most damaging group of practices that the Commission had ever investigated. They covered an entire range of vitamins found in many products including cereals, biscuits, drinks and other edible items, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and animal feed, he added. The cartel came to light when an immunity programme allowed one of the members to disclose its existence in exchange for leniency.