EU regulators have charged Bridgestone Corp., Yokohama Tires and Trelleborg AB with breaking antitrust rules _ a move that can lead to large fines _ the companies said Friday.
Bridgestone, Japan's largest tire maker, said on its Web site that it had received formal notification of charges regarding a cartel it allegedly formed with rivals to fix prices for maritime hoses used to load and unload oil tankers.
The company said it would examine the charges and respond in due course. It plans to withdraw from the hose business following an internal probe that found a unit made improper payments to secure sales.
Yokohama Tires of Japan said it had also received the charges. Swedish industrial group Trelleborg AB, maker of plastics and polymers, confirmed it had been charged, as well, and said it would continue to assist authorities with the investigations.
Companies accused of forming a cartel have two months to respond to the charges in writing and can seek an oral hearing to defend themselves.
EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said he could not confirm that the European Commission had sent the charges.
The EU's executive Commission never names the companies it suspects in cartel cases until it takes a final decision on their guilt, levying fines of up to 10 percent of global annual turnover that can run to hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).
In May 2007, regulators raided companies in France, Italy and Britain _ where Bridgestone operates _ joining U.S. and Japanese officials in an investigation into a suspected global cartel for the hoses.
The U.S. Justice Department said at the time that conspirators sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products used by major oil companies and the U.S. military.
It arrested eight executives from Britain, France, Italy and Japan and charged them with involvement in an alleged conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate markets for U.S. sales of marine hose used to transport oil dating back to 1999.
It named them as leading officials of British companies PW Consulting (Oil & Marine) Ltd. and Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd. Also named were officials from Trelleborg Industrie S.A. in France, Parker ITR slr and Manuli Rubber Industries SpA from Italy and Bridgestone.
The court papers accused PW's owner, Peter Whittle of Britain, of collecting around US$300,000 (220,000) a year for organizing the cartel, with each conspirator paying him about US$50,000 (36,000) and telling him about upcoming contracts for him to designate who would make the best bid.
U.S. law can fine and imprison executives who organized a cartel. EU rules target the company itself.
Associated Press writers Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
