EU Fines Four North Sea Shrimp Traders € 28 Million for Cartel Fixing

European Commission fined four companies that trade North Sea shrimp EUR 28 million for forming a cartel that drove up prices for consumers, it said in a statement Wednesday. The firms are Heiploeg, Klaas Puul and Kok Seafood of the Netherlands, and Stuehrk of Germany.

The statement issued by the European Union competition regulator said Heiploeg and Klaas Puul had been fixing prices and sharing volumes of North Sea shrimps in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands between June 2000 and January 2009. Kok Seafood joined the cartel "at least" from Feburary 2005 and Stuehrk also got involved in price-fixing in the German market between March 2003 and November 2007.

Klaas Puul will get immunity because it blew the whistle on the cartel.