The EU has imposed a fine on Deutsche Bahn for violating antitrust law

The EU Commission has imposed a multi-million dollar fine on Deutsche Bahn (DB) for violating antitrust law. The company coordinated with the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Belgian Railways (SNCB) on customer inquiries in cross-border freight transport, the Brussels authority said. As part of a settlement, DB agreed to the payment of a good 48 million euros. The Commission sees it as proven that the three companies "provide each other with higher price offers", which is prohibited under EU competition rules, the authority said. These agreements between ÖBB and DB therefore existed from the end of 2008 to April 2014. The SNCB was involved from the end of 2011. According to the Commission, the Austrians were completely waived their fine of 37 million euros under the leniency program. Deutsche Bahn and SNCB also benefited from discounts because of their cooperation with the competition authorities in the investigation. The Belgians have to pay a fine of 270,000 euros in the end. In determining the amount of the fine, the Commission stated that it took into account the turnover of the companies concerned, the gravity of the infringement, the size of the respective market and the duration of the cartel participation. In the case of DB, Brussels also increased the fine by 50 percent because it was "a repeat case": in 2012 the company had to pay a fine of millions for participating in the cartel in freight transport.