The Dirt that Surf 'n Tide do not remove...

Unilever and Procter & Gamble fined £280m for price fixing | Business | The Guardian: "Unilever and Procter & Gamble have been hit with fines totalling €315.2m (£281m) for fixing the price of washing powder in eight European countries.

The European Commission imposed the penalties on Wednesday after finding that the consumer goods groups had colluded over prices for more than three years. P&G must hand over €211.2m, while Unilever will pay €104m. Both fines were reduced because the companies co-operated with the investigation and agreed to settle.

The price-fixing cartel began in January 2002, according to the commission, when P&G and Unilever, along with Germany's Henkel, held talks over plans to implement an industry-wide programme to improve the environmental performance of detergents. The companies agreed to shrink the amount of packaging they used but to keep prices unchanged, and later to collectively raise prices. The arrangement lasted until March 2005 and involved products sold in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.

"The cartel lasted some three years and aimed at stabilising market positions and at coordinating prices in violation of EU and EEA antitrust rules," said the commission as it announced the fines...."