An undersea high-voltage cable. Note the coral.
Reuters quotes a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice that the Antitrust Division has started taking a look at "the possibility of anti-competitive practices in the submarine and underground cable industry."
On Monday, the Competition Bureau of the European Commission said in a press release:
The European Commission can confirm that on 28-30 January 2009 Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of companies involved in the manufacture of high voltage undersea cables. The Commission has reason to believe that the companies may have violated EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices (Article 81), which prohibit practices such as price fixing.
The Reuters item notes that an Italian company, Prysmian, and the largest cable-maker, Nexans, confirmed involvement in the investigation. A Prysmian press release says:
Prysmian informs that antitrust authorities of certain countries commenced investigations aimed at assessing commercial practices in the submarine or underground high voltage cable market.
Prysmian is cooperating with the representatives of the competent authorities for the purpose of enabling the completion of the above mentioned investigations.
A "communique" from Nexans, a French outfit, says:
An investigation of Nexans, along with other international cable manufacturers, has been undertaken by competition authorities in Spain, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, as well as by the European Commission concerning in particular high voltage activities of the Group.
From time to time, investigations such as this one are carried out by competition authorities. Nexans is cooperating in providing requested documents.
At this stage, Nexans has no other comments to make.
Blawgletter expects to see a lot more announcements like this. The tone of antitrust enforcement in the U.S. has shifted with the advent of a new administration and a new Attorney General — not to mention the nomination of a new enforcement chief, Christine Varney, at the Antitrust Division.
