The European Commission's antitrust authorities have raided the offices of 14 European firms in an investigation into two cartels in the plastics industry.
The dawn raids targeted heat stabilisers, impact modifiers and processing aids, which are mainly used in making PVC.
A Commission spokeswoman declined to name the companies that had been raided. "The purpose of these inspections is to ascertain whether there is evidence of a cartel agreement and related illegal practices concerning price fixing and market sharing for these products," the Commission said.
The raids took place in The Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Britain, but the Commission said the cartels were operating worldwide, and that it had co-ordinated with Japanese, US and Canadian authorities in the inquiry.
"These inspections have been carried out simultaneously by the American, Japanese and Canadian antitrust authorities," it said.
"The European Commission, the US Department of Justice, the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau co-ordinated for the first time all together surprise inspections into these two suspected cartels operating worldwide".
The statement said the raids were a preliminary step in investigations and did not necessarily mean the firms were guilty of anti-competitive behaviour.
AFP