Power cables cartel

Power cables cartel

On April 2, 2014, the European Commission fined eleven manufacturers of underground and submarine high-voltage power cables approximately €302 million. The investigation was initiated following an immunity application from ABB. The Commission found that, between February 1999 and January 2009, the companies involved in the cartel exchanged price information and coordinated market and customer allocations both globally and specifically within the European Economic Area.

With the exception of EXSYM (formerly SWCC Showa and Mitsubishi Cable), all the fined manufacturers challenged the Commission’s decision. The European General Court (EGC) upheld the fines in its judgments of July 12, 2018. Appeals were subsequently made to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which began issuing judgments on November 14, 2019, largely dismissing the appeals.

High-voltage power cables are used in a variety of applications, including power plant connections, cross-border transmission grid connections, and municipal high-voltage grids. They are found in industrial plants, offshore facilities, ports, airports, and various high-voltage power grids.

Cartel subject:(1) Underground power cables with voltages of 110 kV and above, (2) submarine power cables with voltages of 33 kV and above, and (3) all products, works, and services related to the sale of power cables when such sales are part of a power cable project

Cartel agreements: Exchange of information on prices, market allocations, and customer assignments

Cartel members: ABB (applicant under the leniency notice), Nexans, Prysmian (formerly Pirelli), J-Power Systems (formerly Sumitomo Electric and Hitachi Metals), VISCAS (formerly Furukawa Electris und Fujikura), EXSYM (formerly SWCC Showa und Mitsubishi Cable), Brugg, NKT, Silec (formerly Safran), LS Cable und Taihan

Cartel period: 18.02.1999 – 28.01.2009

Cartel region: European Economic Area (EEA) and worldwide

Level of fines: About 302 million euros

Affected parties: All purchasers of high-voltage cables, particularly those used for power station connections, cross-border transmission network connections, and municipal high-voltage grids

CompanyReduction under the Leniency NoticeFine (€)
ABB (Karlskrona, Sweden)1,000
Brugg (Brugg, Switzerland)8.490.000
Nexans (Paris, France)70.670.000
NKT (Holding: Brøndby, Denmark; Cables GmbH: Cologne, Germany)3.887.000
Prysmian (Milan, Italy)104.613.000
of which jointly and severally liable with Pirelli (Milan, Italy)67.310.000
of which jointly and severally liable with Goldman (NYC, US)37.303.000
Safran (Paris, France)8.567.000
Silec (Montreau-Fault-Yonne, France)1.976.000
of which jointly and severally liable with General Cable (Highland Heights, US)1.852.500
of which jointly and severally liable with Safran (Paris, France)123.500
Sumitomo (solely liable) (Japan)0,452.630.000
Hitachi (solely liable) (Tokyo, Japan)0,452.346.000
JPS (jointly and severally liable with Sumitomo and Hitachi) (Ibaraki, Japan)0,4520.741.000
Furukawa (solely liable) (Tokyo, Japan)8.858.000
Fujikura (solely liable) (Tokyo, Japan)8.152.000
VISCAS (jointly and severally liable with Furukawa and Fujikura) (Tokyo, Japan)34.992.000
SWCC Showa (solely liable) (Tokyo, Japan)844.000
Mitsubishi (solely liable) (Tokyo, Japan)750.000
EXSYM (jointly and severally liable with Showa and Mitsubishi) (Tokyo, Japan)6.551.000
LS Cable (Anyang, South Korea)11.349.000
Taihan (Anyang, South Korea)6.223.000
Total301.639.000

Participating ECDA member law firms

Contact information:

ECDA coordinator: Chrissy Lind
Phone +49(0)30 611 28 40-10
info@ecda-online.com

Postal address:
European Cartel Damage Alliance e.V. (ECDA)
Magazinstraße 15-16
10179 Berlin / Germany