The European Commission has imposed a €138 million cartel fine on groups including Samsung and Philips for rigging the European market for smart card chips.

The commission said Philips, Samsung, Infineon and Renesas – at the time a joint venture of Hitachi and Mitsubishi – illegally colluded for about two years to share information on contracts and prices.

The smart card chips are used in products such as mobile phones, bank cards, passports and pay television cards. Joaquín Almunia, the EU competition commissioner, said the products were used by “almost everybody”. He added that “the cartelists knew their conduct was illegal” and in some cases “took measures to conceal the collusion”. The cartel operated between September 2003 and September 2005.

Failure to settle

Germany’s Infineon was fined €82 million, Philips €20 million, and Samsung €35 million. Renesas won immunity from the penalty after revealing the existence of the cartel. The fines followed a failed attempt to settle the case with some of the companies involved.

Infineon rejected the charges as “unfounded” and said it was prepared to appeal against the decision. Philips, which spun off its former semiconductor unit in 2006, will also lodge an appeal. Samsung, the world’s biggest chipmaker, is reviewing the decision.

Mr Almunia said the companies involved in the cartel exchanged “sensitive commercial information on pricing, customers, contract negotiations, production capacity and their future market conduct”.

– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014)