FTC to impose fines on Panasonic unit, foreign firms over int'l cartel

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TOKYO, July 11 Kyodo -
The Japanese Fair Trade Commission has decided to impose fines totaling several
billion yen on a Panasonic Corp. unit and other foreign firms operating in
Southeast Asia for allegedly forming an international cartel to fix prices for
cathode-ray tubes for television sets, sources familiar with the matter said
Saturday.
It is the first time for Japan's antitrust watchdog to slap fines on foreign
firms over an international price-fixing cartel.
The FTC has determined that MT Picture Display Co., a Panasonic subsidiary
headquartered in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, Samsung SDI Co. of South Korea
and others fixed prices of their CRTs from around 2005 to sell them to Japanese
television makers operating in Southeast Asia in violation of the Antimonopoly
Law.
The FTC has been investigating the case in cooperation with antitrust
authorities of the European Union and South Korea. It raided MT Picture Display
in November 2007.
Global sales of CRTs total about 500 billion yen a year. Although global sales
have been shrinking with the advent of liquid crystal and plasma displays,
there has been relatively strong demand for CRTs in developing nations,
industry watchers said.
In February 2008, the FTC ordered Bridgestone Corp. of Japan and four foreign
firms to terminate their international cartel to fix prices for marine hoses
used in oil transportation.
The FTC fined Bridgestone but did not impose fines on the foreign firms because
they have never sold the products in Japan.
==Kyodo
2009-07-11 19:35:42