Vitamin cartel: Roche faces penalties
Several international pharmaceutical companies face the possibility of fines being levied on the price of vitamins. Basel's Roche, and Germany's BASF are on the list being drafted by Australia and Japan.
The two countries are investigating the companies in order to establish whether they are monopolising the vitamin market.
Last year, Roche and BASF were condemned by the United States and Canada, and ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Rhone-Poulenc, the affiliate of the German-Swiss group Aventis, were also subject to stiff penalties.
At the beginning of July, several vitamin producers were warned by the European Commission against monopolising the vitamin market.
The companies have nine weeks to respond.
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