The Cartel
The EC found that two European companies (SKF and Schaeffler) and four Japanese companies (JTEKT, NSK, NFC and NTN with its French subsidiary NTN-SNR) colluded to secretly coordinate their pricing strategy vis-à-vis automotive customers in the whole European Economic Area.
The cartel concerned automotive bearings, used by car, truck and car part manufacturers to reduce friction between moving parts inside a vehicle. Cars and trucks contain numerous bearings, for example wheel bearings, bearings for gearbox, transmission, alternator or air conditioning systems.
