France's Alstom and Areva appeal EU fines 19/04/2007 00:00

PARIS, April 18, 2007 (AFP) - French engineering giant Alstom and nuclear group Areva on Wednesday said they had appealed against fines imposed by the European Union in January for allegedly taking part in a price fixing cartel.

Spokesmen for the two companies said separately the two groups were lodging "an appeal before the EU's court of first instance against the Brussels sanctions."

They declined further comment.

Japan's Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba and Germany's Siemens have also said they are appealing the fines, which were imposed as part of a wider crackdown on European and Japanese firms accused of colluding in the power-generation equipment market.

EU regulators charge that between 1988 and 2004 the companies rigged bids for procurement contracts, fixed prices, divided up projects among each other and shared sensitive information in the market for equipment called gas insulated switchgear (GIS).

The EU competition watchdog imposed a total fine of 750 million euros (one billion euros) -- its second-biggest to date -- on the firms, which also included ABB, Fuji, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Schneider, Siemens and VA Tech.

Alstom was fined 11.5 million euros (15.6 million dollars), plus 53.5 million euros jointly with Areva.

Copyright AFP

Subject: French news