For the companies victimized by the corrugated cardboard cartel, time is almost up to get their stolen goods back. According to the calculations of the Italian Box Manufacturers’ Association (Acis), the statute of limitations for obtaining compensation will expire on July 17th.
Five years have passed since the Antitrust decision which imposed a maxi-fine of 287 million euros on various corrugated cardboard manufacturing companies for having organized a cartel that lasted 14 years aimed at raising the price of the material, which in fact in the period 2004-2017 had increased between 15 and 30%. At the same time, a cartel was also discovered to artificially raise the price of the boxes: an activity – the latter – which also caused indirect damage to consumers, the last links in the supply chain forced to pay a higher price. In fact, several corrugated cardboard manufacturing companies also produce the boxes.
The maxi-agreement
The corrugated cardboard is transformed into boxes which are then sold to all the companies that ship their goods. In short, a bit of all Italian manufacturing.
Thanks to the reporting by Acis and some “repentant” companies the Antitrust managed to reconstruct a gigantic anti-competitive operation which generated damages estimated between 1 and 2.5 billion euros, also because it was perpetrated by 90% of corrugated cardboard producers, many of whom – as mentioned – also do business as box factories. The ones who paid the price, therefore, were above all the “pure” box factories, i.e. those that only deal with transforming corrugated cardboard into packaging.
“In some cases the producers stopped the plants and checked each other to ensure that everyone respected the agreements – explains Andrea Mecarozzi, president of Acis -, consequently, in some periods we ran out of raw materials and they explained to us that there was a demand greater than the production capacity. Unfortunately, the reality was different.” Not only that: “We all purchased based on a single price list, which was very strange, given that the producers sourced from different paper mills, which therefore applied different prices. It was another way to control the market. It is no coincidence that, if until then our associated companies held 55% of the market shares, we dropped to 40%, a share from which we have never moved again” continues Mecarozzi.
What happens now
The damaged companies can ask a civil judge for compensation from the companies that formed the cartel. Times are tight, but today the process promises to be more streamlined: the Antitrust prosecution system has in fact been essentially confirmed by both the TAR and the Council of State.
“The cartel existed and the damage was caused: this is now established – explains the president of Acis – today it is no longer a question of proving this, but of calculating the damage suffered by each company”. According to the association’s estimates, an average company suffered damage of between 3 and 4 million euros for the entire period 2004-2017. “To this are added the interest accrued – explains the note released by the association – the monetary revaluation and the lost profits. The cartelists are jointly and severally liable, therefore the compensation awarded by the judge can be requested in full even from just one of the companies sued and involved in the cartel”.
