The paper manufacturer Stora Enso faces charges of violating competition legislation in the United States. The US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that the Wisconsin-based Stora Enso subsidiary SENAA is suspected of having illegally agreed on the prices of coated magazine paper between August 2002 and June 2003.
Stora Enso has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing.
The charges are the first to come out of an ongoing investigation by US competition authorities and the FBI on suspected antitrust violations on the magazine paper market.
Stora Enso expects the first trial in the matter to begin sometime next year. The company emphasises that none of its employees have been charged personally.
This is not the first time that Stora Enso faces suspicions of price fixing. In November, competition authorities of the European Commission concluded their investigations into a suspected cartel by Stora Enso, Metsäliitto, and UPM; no charges were filed.
The Commission’s investigations on possible violations of competition rules started after UPM came forward and told authorities of the existence of a cartel. In November, it reported that the investigation into price fixing for newsprint, magazine paper, and labelstock had been dropped.
Investigations into allegations concerning fine paper were concluded already in August.
Five years ago the Supreme Administrative Court imposed fines of EUR half a million each on Metsäliitto, UPM, and Stora Enso for price fixing. The companies were found to have engaged in illegal cooperation in the Mikkeli region in 1993 - 1997.
Annual sales of magazine paper in the United States are in the billions of dollars. The highest possible fine for violating the competition rules is 10 million dollars, or EUR 7.6 million. The fine can be doubled in certain circumstances.
