after unannounced inspections at the premises of several suppliers of maritime transport services, the European Commission has reasons to believe that the companies concerned have infringed Article 101 TFEU.
Several major players in the maritime transport vehicle on September 6, 2012 unannounced inspectors had visited in the course of an investigation into possible price fixing in the sector. The raids took place simultaneously in several Member States and in coordination with the American and Japanese competition authorities. According to the Commission, there are reasons to believe that the visited carrier illegal cartel agreements made in breach of Article 101 TFEU. The Commission emphasizes, however, that inspections only the first step in the investigation into a possible cartel and that this is not automatically means that the undertakings in question therefore guilty. Or evaluation was actually illegal cartel agreements will, according to the European Commission, later to be seen. Fact is that if this is the case, the operators towering risking fines. A statutory deadline for completing the research is not there yet. The duration of the study will depend on a number of factors such as the complexity of the case, the extent to which companies cooperate and exercise of the rights of defense.
