OFFICES OF some of the world's biggest consumer products companies have been raided by European antitrust authorities because of a suspected cartel in consumer detergents, such as washing-machine detergents and laundry softeners.

Competition officials at the European Commission said that the sequence of raids, which involved at least half a dozen countries, occurred between Tuesday and Thursday of this week.

"The commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EC treaty rules on restrictive business practices and cartels, which prohibit practices such as price-fixing," they said. The commission did not name any of the companies. But Unilever, Procter Gamble, Henkel, Reckitt Benckiser and Sara Lee confirmed they had either received letters or visits from the commission at some European offices.

Unilever, which makes laundry detergents under the brand names Omo and Surf, said it had received visits from European and local antitrust authorities this week in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Austria and Italy. Sara Lee, which owns the Biotex brand, said it had received visits from authorities in the Netherlands.

If cartel activity were established, companies could be fined up to 10 per cent of their worldwide turnover. Fines, however, rarely come close to this level, although the amount collected by the commission from cartel penalties has been rising sharply in recent years.

The commission said the fact it carried out surprise inspections did not mean the companies were guilty of cartel behaviour or prejudged the outcome of the inquiry.

This week's action follows inquiries by national competition authorities into suspected price-fixing in household goods in several countries.

Sara Lee said there was no link with a recent antitrust investigation in Germany, which resulted in €37 million in fines being levied on Sara Lee, Henkel and Unilever for allegedly collaborating to raise prices.