COURT REDUCES HOECHST CARTEL FINE.

The EU's Court of First Instance reduced to 75.25 million a fine imposed in 2003 on the German chemical company Hoechst for its participation from 1978 to 1996 in a cartel with Japanese groups on the market for sorbates (food preservatives), imposing a total fine of 138.45 million. Hoechst was hit with the highest amount, 99 million, for its role in leading the cartel and its recidivism. The ruling (Case T-410/03) notes that the European Commission has not sufficiently qualified the aggravating circumstance of leading the cartel against Hoechst and...