European Union antitrust regulators have accused four of Europe’s biggest battery recycling companies with fixing lead recycling prices.
Eco-bat, JCI, Recylex and Campine have been investigated by the European Commission for allegedly fixing the purchase price of scrap lead-acid batteries in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The Commission, which governs competition issues, said it had concerns that from 2009 to 2012 the recycling companies aimed to fix the prices. The commission has sent a statement of objections to all the parties involved.
If the Commission finds there is sufficient evidence of a cartel it can impose a fine of up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover.
Gabriel Zeitlin, head of Communications at Recylex, said: “We are studying the document with lawyers to determine the consequences and of course answer the Commission, but for the moment its too early because we’ve not had a complete look at the document.”
Jennifer Mattes, Director, Global Communications at Johnson Controls, said: “This is an important matter to us and we will continue to fully cooperate with the European Commission in its investigation. We are not in a position to comment further while the investigation is ongoing.”
An Eco-bat spokesman said: “This is part of the ongoing investigation in the sector, for which the European Commission conducted unannounced inspections at the premises of, inter alia, Eco-Bat’s German subsidiary, Berzelius Metall GmbH, in September 2012.
“Eco-Bat is examining the European Commission’s initial findings as reported in the Statement of Objections and will analyse the documents in the Commission’s investigation file, and will respond in due course to the European Commission.”
Campine did not return BEST’s attempts to contact them for a statement.
