FMCG prise cartel in France

If found guilty of anticompetitive practices, the companies could face fines of up to 10 percent of their annual worldwide revenue — possibly amounting to billions of euros.

 Le Figaro  French newspaper said nine
companies in total "are suspected of having participated in a
vast accord on their prices in France," and that the suspected
collusion is believed to have begun toward the end of 2004.

Aside from Unilever, Procter &
Gamble and Colgate, the newspaper also named U.S.-based Sara Lee
Corp. and S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Germany's Henkel KGaA,
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC of Britain and two others.

The newspaper said the companies shared
information about their market share in cleaning products and
insecticides and their prices, as well as commercial information
about their distributors.