Cartel Fines in Europe–Law, Practice and Deterrence

This article examines the law, practice and evidence on fines for price-fixing under European competition law. It undertakes the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of fines imposed on cartels by the European Commission. Based on an analysis of 30 fully reported cartel decisions, and appeals against many of these, the article looks at how fines were calculated in practice under the 1998 Penalty Guidelines, leniency notices and appeals, and whether they reflected consumers’ losses and were likely to deter price-fixing. It also examines the impact of the 2006 Penalty Guidelines by recalculating fines for the decided cartel cases.