EU fines Japanese capacitor manufacturers millions for cartel formation

The European Commission has fined a total of EUR 254 million on eight Japanese capacitor manufacturers. They formed a cartel with Sanyo, part of Panasonic, between 1998 and 2012.

Sanyo will not have to pay a fine, as the company acted as a whistleblower and exposed the malpractice. The companies that will be fined are Elna, Hitachi Chemical, Holy Stone, Matsuo, NEC Tokin, Nichicon, Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon. In all cases, these are Japanese companies and, according to the European Commission, they were guilty of forming a cartel between 1998 and 2012. The commission’s investigation began in the spring of 2014.

According to European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, the nine companies formed a cartel during the aforementioned period to earn as much money as possible by making mutual agreements. As a result, there was no competition in the market for capacitors. The European Commissioner states that this may not only have affected manufacturers, but also consumers. Vestager explains that capacitors are in almost all electrical appliances, from smartphones to kitchen appliances and from cars to wind turbines.

Furthermore, Vestager emphasizes that the European Commission does not tolerate such cartels, even when it comes to companies outside Europe. Although the cartel only affects Japanese companies and the agreements between the companies were made in Japan, the cartel has affected the whole world, the Commission states.

In determining the fines, the Commission took into account sales of capacitors in the European Economic Area. According to EU guidelines, the fines may not exceed ten percent of a company’s annual turnover. The fines that Elna, Nippon Chemi-Con and Rubycon receive are limited to ten percent of their turnover.

Sanyo and parent company Panasonic will not be fined, because they have raised the existence of the cartel with the Commission. The company thus avoids a fine of almost 33 million euros. Hitachi Chemical, Rubycon, Elna and NEC Tokin have received a ‘discount’ on their fine for cooperating with the investigation.