PARIS: France's competition authority on Tuesday slapped 672.3 million euros in fines for price-fixing on 20 package shipping firms, including the local subsidiaries of international market leaders such as DHL, FedEx and TNT.
The market regulator found the companies, plus a trade association linking them, had been involved in discussions on price hikes and that many of the firms had also discussed a common method to apply a fuel surcharge on package shipping between 2004 and 2010.
"Roundtables were regularly organised before and during rate hike campaigns, which allowed the firms to harmonise their rate positions and secure their commercial negotiations," said the Competition Authority in a statement.
"The discussions were held in secret and no official records were made," it added.
Chronopost, the delivery company run by the French postal system now known as DPD France and Geodis, owned by the state-held SNCF rail operator were also caught up in the price fixing ring.
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