European Commission sends statement of objections to Asian capacitor manufacturers alleging cartel

The European Commission alleges than ten Asian manufacturers of electrolytic capacitors participated in a cartel in violation of Article 101 TFEU.  Electrolytic capacitors store electrical energy and are found in most electronic goods including mobile phones, games consoles and televisions.  The Commission’s statement of objections, issued on 4 November, follows an investigation which it started in March 2014.  Other antitrust authorities including in the USA, Brazil, China and Japan are also investigating the matter.

The Commission alleges that the companies met in a number of multilateral meetings in Japan to discuss future market trends, prices and specific customer information over the period 1997-2014.  It appears that these meetings were supplemented with further bilateral or even tri-lateral meetings and some apparently took place in Europe involving the subsidiary of a Japanese company.

The companies concerned will now be granted access to the Commission’s file.  They will be able to respond to the objections and request an oral hearing.  In cartel cases the issue of objections by the Commission typically results in an infringement decision against at least some parties, although in previous cases final defendants have not always been identical to those stated in the objections (e.g. air cargo).

The case is symptomatic of a growing number of international cartel investigations where cooperation between the authorities, whether through bilateral assistance agreements or a ‘pick up the phone’ culture, is becoming the norm.  China’s National Development and Reform Commission launched dawn raids in the sector in September 2014.  Also in 2014, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission raided eight capacitor companies, reportedly after Panasonic claimed leniency.  Brazil’s antitrust authority is investigating 20 companies for related practices and the US Department of Justice launched its own probe in September.  It will be apparent that the authorities’ enforcement practice and the increasing spread of leniency programmes are rendering detection of anti-competitive agreements more likely.

Commission press release IP/15/5980