European Commission drops cartel investigation of Finnish forest products giants

The European Commission said on Thursday that it will end an investigation of firms in the softwood pulp industry over suspected violations of competition law due to insufficient evidence. It did not name the companies, but Finland’s Stora Enso, UPM and Metsä Fibre had confirmed that they were among the targets. The Commission suspected that the companies had violated EU competition law by agreeing to fix prices through a cartel. “After a thorough analysis and careful assessment of all the evidence gathered, the Commission has concluded that there is insufficient ground to further pursue the investigation ...