Commission raids ethylene purchasers

The European Commission has confirmed that it has raided ethylene purchasers in a number of Member States on suspicion of infringing Article 101.

Ethylene is used to create plastic polyethylene.

The Commission has not identified the companies that it has raided but US company Celanese and Swiss company Clariant have confirmed that they are being investigated.

The investigation is a further example of the Commission’s focus on potential buy-side cartel activity as opposed to collusion between competing suppliers over prices, markets, terms and conditions of sale.

In a similar respect the Commission’s investigation into German car manufacturers confirmed this week appears to concern buy-side activity in the choice of suppliers and purchase terms.

Antitrust investigations on the purchasing side are relatively unusual but not without precedent. An example is the Commission’s decision of 7 February 2017 finding that between 2009 and 2012, four recycling companies took part in a cartel to fix the purchase prices of scrap lead-acid automotive batteries in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

European Commission press release: Antitrust: Commission confirms unannounced inspections in the ethylene purchasing sector, 26 July 2017