Five European envelope-makers fined total of $24m for fixing prices at meetings they called ‘mini-golf’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The European Commission’s top competition regulator has licked an envelope cartel.

The EU unveiled a settlement with five envelope-makers, fining them a total of $24m for forming a cartel. The makers are Sweden’s Bong, France’s GPV and Hamelin, Germany’s Mayer-Kuvert and Spain’s Tompl.

The competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said on Thursday the fines would benefit consumers, including “everyone who is writing Christmas cards”.

She may have meant cards of Christmases past: the cartel existed from 2003 to 2008.



Vestager said the companies fixed prices at meetings they sometimes referred to as playing “mini-golf”.

Vestager addressed other companies tempted to join a cartel, saying a single tip could launch an investigation, as happened to the envelope cartel.

In that case, the whistleblower didn’t send an anonymous letter: “They were too expensive,” she quipped.