Hundreds join cartel class action
- Latest News
- Friday, 01 October 2010
A group of companies led by Philips of the Netherlands and Swedish telecoms group Ericsson will allege they suffered more than EUR500 million in damages as a result of price-fixing by airlines KLM, Martinair and Air France.
Another 20 airlines are expected to be named later.
International competition watchdogs have been probing a worldwide cartel, based around air freight traffic rates, for the past four years.
In countries including Australia, South Korea, Canada, Japan and the US, almost two dozen airlines have already admitted involvement in illegal activities going back to 2000 and have paid fines and seen staff jailed.
But until now the European Commission has held back - and even now, this new Dutch lawsuit will depend on a finding of illegal airline activity by the EU authority in Brussels.
The claim is being organised by litigation funding company Claims Funding International (CFI), which is paying the costs of the claim in return for a fee if damages are recovered.
CFI says many of the claimants are from the pharmaceuticals and electronics sectors plus food and automotive industries.
