FCA announces fines for 18 additional parcel carriers

The French Competition Authority has ordered a total of 20 companies to pay nearly $740 million in fines for alleged anti-competitive behavior in the French parcel delivery sector.    France’s Autorité de la Concurrence has ordered a total of 20 courier companies to pay 672 million euros (U.S. $739 million) in fines for alleged anti-competitive behavior in the French parcel delivery sector.
   Global express carrier TNT Express and third party logistics provider Kuehne + Nagel of Switzerland announced earlier last week they had been hit with fines of 58 million euros (U.S. $63.34 million) and 32 million euros (U.S. $34.95 million), respectively.
   The French Competition Authority (FCA) handed down additional fines to high profile parcel carriers like FedEx, Deutsche Post DHL, Geodis, and Norbert Dentressangle. The full list also included BMVirolle, Chronopost, Exapaq (now known as DPD France), Ciblex, Dachser France, Gefco, GLS France, Heppner, Lambert et Valette, XP France, Normatrans, Schenker-Joyau (now known as Schenker France), Transports Henri Ducros, and Ziegler France.
   The aggregate fine amount is the second highest imposed by the FCA since the independent antitrust watchdog was created in 2008. FCA began investigating the French parcel delivery market in 2008 when DB Schenker warned of an illegal price fixing agreement.
   DBS exchanged information on the alleged scheme in exchange for leniency with investigators, who found the abovementioned firms had agreed to fix annual price increases imposed each September on small customers, according to FCA. For large customers, the authority said, the September price increase would serve as a starting point for an often lengthy contract negotiation process.
   FCA said it found documents during its investigation that indicated company officials knew they were violating competition rules and attempted to hide their actions. The authority noted the parcel carriers eventually ceased the price fixing behavior, but not until FCA informed them of its initial findings in 2010.
   Despite its cooperation, DB Schenker was fined 3 million euros because it failed to inform investigators of a September 2010 anticompetitive meeting it had attended and, therefore, “failed to satisfy one of its obligations,” said FCA.
   The highest single fine – 196 million euros – was handed down to Geodis SA, the largest parcel courier in France and a subsidiary state-owned railway operator SNCF, in part because the company has said it will contest the FCA’s allegations. Fines were reduced for companies that agreed not to appeal the authority’s ruling.
   FedEx and Deutsche Post DHL were fined 17 million euros and 81.2 million euros, respectively, while Norbert Dentressangle, which agreed in April to be acquired by acquisitive third party logistics provider XPO Logistics for $3.5 billion, was fined 9.7 million euros.
   Despite holding a significant share of the parcel market in France, UPS was not fined as it did not participate in price fixing scheme, according to FCA.