UK glass manufacturer Pilkington Group, part of Japan’s Nippon Sheet Glass Co, has lost its appeal against a 357 million-euro (299.96 million pounds) cartel fine after Europe’s top court said EU antitrust regulators had calculated the penalty correctly.
The European Commission handed down a combined fine of 1.35 billion euros to Pilkington, French group Saint Gobain and two other companies in 2008 for price-fixing in the car glass market over a five-year period starting from 1998.
Pilkington subsequently challenged the decision at a lower court, lost and then appealed to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ).
The ECJ upheld the EC ruling, rejecting Pilkington’s argument that its fine was proportionally higher than the other because it is a less diversified company.
“The Court of Justice finds that it is not contrary to the principles of proportionality and equal treatment that an undertaking … may receive a fine which represents a proportion of its overall turnover that is greater than that imposed on the other undertakings,” judges said.
The fine is the third largest sanction ever levied by the Commission.