EC charges Stolt-Nielsen, Odfjell and Jo Tankers
The European Commission (EC) has formally charged Stolt-Nielsen, Odfjell and Jo Tankers with price fixing. Strictly speaking the charges has the form of “statement of objection” to cover alleged violations of competition rules in the period between August 1998 and April 2002. The antitrust case against the companies could end in hefty fines of maximum 10 per cent of turnover if found guilty. However, the maximum penalty is unlikely to apply. The three chemical tanker owners/operators were raided by European competition officials in February 2003. Only Stolt-Nielsen has officially responded to the charges, saying that they still should qualify for leniency under the February 2003 agreement to co-operate with the EU.