After the two companies agreed to admit certain facts for the purposes of the proceedings, the court ordered APRIL Fine Paper Trading to pay $3,250,000 for its involvement in fixing the price of copy paper and uncoated woodfree folio paper supplied to Australian customers.  APRIL International Marketing Services Australia will pay $750,000 in penalties for its ancillary involvement.

In submissions to the court APRIL Fine Paper Trading admitted it had taken part in 18 meetings with competitors between December 2000 and January 2004. At the meetings, APRIL Fine Paper Trading made arrangements or understandings with competitors about the average price of paper sold, and it was alleged that the company gave effect to these arrangements in its Australian pricing.

Justice Bennett noted in her judgement, “The conduct at the meetings was an arrangement which arose in circumstances where the participants were seeking to achieve stability in pricing by avoiding competition amongst themselves. The conduct was deliberate, and the meetings were held in secret.”

However Justice Bennett also noted that the penalties were significantly discounted, due to the cooperation of the two APRIL companies.

Also commenting, Graeme Samuel chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says, “This matter sends a strong message that the ACCC will pursue alleged cartel arrangements made overseas by foreign corporations that affect Australian prices and consumers, in this case for a basic commodity like copy paper.”

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