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ARTICLE · 16 OCTOBER 2018

Britned Developments v. Abb : First UK Cartel Follow-On Judgment Finds No Deliberate Overcharge

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On 9 October 2018, the High Court of England and Wales ordered Swiss engineering company ABB to pay BritNed Developments just over €13 million for damages suffered as a result of a cartel in the power cable sector...

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Jane Wessel
Jane Wessel
Ludovica Pizzetti
Ludovica Pizzetti
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Background and relevance of High Court's Decision

On 9 October 2018, the High Court of England and Wales ordered Swiss engineering company ABB to pay BritNed Developments just over €13 million for damages suffered as a result of a cartel in the power cable sector, concluding that the factual and expert evidence did not support BritNed's claim that it had been overcharged by €180 million.

The case stems from a 2014 decision by the European Commission (EC) which found that, between 1999 and 2009, ABB and ten other companies were involved in a global cartel in the underground and submarine high-voltage-power cable sector by sharing markets, allocating and rigging bids, and exchanging competitively sensitive information. An EEA-wide cartel involving only the European suppliers was considered to be part of this global cartel. The fines imposed by the EC totalled €302 million, but ABB was not fined as it benefited from immunity under the EC's leniency programme.

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