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EU: Court halves Sasol antitrust penalty

By  |  July 14, 2014

South Africa-based Sasol scored a victory in the EU on Friday after the EU General Court cut antitrust fines issued to the company by more than half.

According to reports, the Court found that an earlier decision to fine a Germany unit of Sasol was incorrect. The fines were issued to wax business Schumann for price-fixing; Sasol acquired a stake in the company in 1995 and fully acquired the firm in 2002.

Sasol fought the fines but the European Commission defended the sanction on grounds that the anticompetitive behavior spanned more than a decade.

The Court, however, reduced the fine to about $204 million. In a statement, the Commission said it would review the General Court’s decision and how it impacts the Commission’s rulings of parent companies of firms found have participated in anticompetitive behavior.

Full content: Business Report

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