France's Competition Authority has issued a ruling that imposes a fine on four oil companies for "collusion in setting fuel prices" in highway service stations between January 1999 and June 2000. TotalFinaElf, for its part, was fined €12 million.
TotalFinaElf would like to strongly emphasize the following points:
- The Group denies and has always denied the existence of an organized system for exchanging information among competitors that would in any way have undermined free competition on highways.
- It does not collude and has not colluded in any way with other operators to fix prices on highways.
- It has done nothing more than collect information on prices displayed by other service station operators, which is a normal part of doing business in a competitive environment.
The similarities noted among fuel prices can be explained by objective reasons that were recognized by the Competition Authority itself in its notice dated May 16, 2000:
- High fuel taxes.
- Operating constraints specific to highway service stations, such as round-the-clock and year-round opening hours, special charges and supplementary costs related to station specifications.
- Similarity in re-supplying conditions.
- Similarity of the products (i.e. fuels) sold.
After studying the Competition Authority's ruling, TotalFinaElf reserves the right to file an appeal with the Paris Court of Appeals. |
