EU's Vestager warns of more anti-cartel raids, criticises 'no-poach' deals (updated)

Metsa Board Oyj

22/10/2021 13:04

(Adds details, background)
    By Foo Yun Chee
    BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - EU enforcers are planning a
series of raids against companies suspected of illegal
price-fixing, Europe's anti-trust chief warned on Friday, as she
also sounded the alarm about competition in labour markets due
to "no-poach" deals.
    The European Commission last week raided Europe's largest
pulp producers Stora Enso  STERV.HE  and UPM  UPM.HE , and Metsa
Board  METSB.HE  unit Metsa Fibre, the first in two years as the
COVID-19 pandemic halted such actions.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2R82QM
    Companies suspected of taking part in other cartels should
soon see officials knocking on their doors, EU Competition
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
    "And that's just the start of a series of raids that we're
planning for the months to come – you'll understand if I don't
say exactly when or where they're going to happen," she told a
conference organised by the Italian anti-trust authority in
Rome.
    Companies found guilty of taking part in cartels face fines
as much as 10% of their global turnover. Whistleblowers are
rewarded with immunity from sanctions while those who provide
crucial information can get hefty reductions in their penalties.
    She said regulators may sweeten such so-called leniency
deals with companies as the growth in private damages claims
from customers deter many from sharing key data with enforcers.
    Vestager also criticised "no-poach" agreements between
companies, saying that this could create a cartel, a sign that
she may be mulling action. 
    Individuals are directly effected "when companies collude to
fix the wages they pay or when they use so-called 'no-poach'
agreements as an indirect way to keep wages down, restricting
talent from moving where it serves the economy best", she said.
    No-poach agreements, in which companies agree not to hire
each others' workers, and non-compete agreements, in which
workers sign contracts pledging not to leave to work for a
rival, have in recent years drawn criticism.

 (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Alex Richardson)
 ((foo.yunchee@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 287 6844; Reuters
Messaging: foo.yunchee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))