The European Commission has informed thirteen companies supplying optical disk drives in the European Economic Area (EEA) of its preliminary view that they may have infringed EU antitrust rules by participating in a worldwide cartel.

The European regulators have concerns that those suppliers may have coordinated their behaviour in bidding events organised by two major original equipment manufacturers for optical disk drives used in personal computers (desktops and notebooks) and in servers.

The sending of a 'Statement of Objections' does not prejudge the final outcome of the investigation.

The Commission takes the preliminary view that the companies concerned engaged for at least five years in bid rigging, which is one of the most serious breaches of EU antitrust rules. This behaviour, if established, may have ultimately affected customers that bought optical disk drives manufactured by the companies concerned.