A European court ruled Wednesday to confirm EUR79 million in fines against three companies for participating in a cartel in industrial copper tubes.

In 2003, the European Commission, Europe's antitrust regulator, found Outokumpu Oyj (OUT1V.HE) of Finland, Wieland-Werke AG of Germany and the company that became Italy's KME Group SpA (KME.MI) had operated a secret price-fixing and market-sharing cartel between 1988 and 2001.

The three companies didn't contest their involvement in the cartel. However, they asked the court to annul or reduce the EUR79 million in fines. The companies alleged the fines were set too high and violated guidelines.

"The Court has held that the Commission was not required, when assessing the size of the market, to deduct production costs," as the companies had argued, Europe's lower court said in a statement.

The copper tubes involved are used in the air-conditioning and refrigeration sectors. The commission said this market was worth about EUR290 million a year in 2003, and the three cartel companies' production accounted for up to 85% of that total.

-By Mike Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; +352 691 180 766; mgordon.dowjones@gmail.com
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