'NMa satisfied about cartel case decision by European court'

The Dutch competition authority NMa said it is satisfied with the ruling of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg in the cartel court case between the authority and a number of mobile operators. The NMa in 2002 accused Ben Nederland (now-T-Mobile NL), KPN and Libertel Vodafone (now Vodafone NL) of having reached in 2001 an agreement on how they would conduct business in the market. The NMa handed out fines worth a total of EUR 88 mln. In 2006, the fines were reduced following a court ruling. Both the operators and the NMa appealed that decision. The College Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven (CBb), or Board of Appeal for Business, asked the court for the answers to three questions regarding European cartel law before a final decision was taken on the appeal case by the mobile operators. The court gave its answers and the NMa has been following the rules in other procedures, NMa spokesperson Jules Schaap said. Since then, T-Mobile has paid the fines and Telfort (now KPN) has been exempt of the fines due to the lack of proof the company was present at the meeting where these cartel-like agreements allegedly took place. KPN and Vodafone have not yet paid the fines.

Distributed for DMeurope.com via M2 Communications (www.m2.com)

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