P/E/158. The case of Hoffman- La Roche (HLR) and EU Competition Policy

In November 2001 the European Commission imposed a record fine of 462 million Euros against the Swiss drug company Hoffman- La Roche (HLR). HLR, the world's largest vitamin producer, received the fine for being the prime mover in and main beneficiary of a cartel in the EU market for vitamins. In particular, the Commission's investigation had established that HLR colluded with other companies to fix the prices of and allocate sales quotas for a number of vitamins. The paper discusses the case in the context of EU competition policy and provides a reasonable theoretical background.