BASF SE Rotten Score Breakdown

The European Commission found BASF responsible for multiple antitrust infringements involving vitamin markets in Europe during the 1990s. The arrangements involved price fixing, sales quotas and other coordination designed to restrict competition across several vitamin products. The Commission originally imposed a total fine of €296.16 million on BASF. Following BASF's appeal, the EU Court of First Instance reduced the total fine to approximately €236.8 million in March 2006. The underlying findings of extensive cartel participation remained. Sources: EUR-Lex https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62002TJ0015 BASF Financial Report https://www.basf.com/dam/jcr:19fdacea-7aea-3701-86d0-a41221191e11/basf/www/global/documents/en/investor-relations/calendar-and-publications/reports/2007/BASF_Financial_Report_2006.pdf

In December 2004, the European Commission imposed a €35 million fine on BASF for antitrust violations concerning vitamin B4, also known as choline chloride. BASF's financial reporting states that the violations related to sales of choline chloride in the mid-1990s. This was a separate European Commission enforcement action from the broader vitamins decision for which BASF had previously received a much larger fine. Source: BASF Financial Report 2006 https://www.basf.com/dam/jcr:19fdacea-7aea-3701-86d0-a41221191e11/basf/www/global/documents/en/investor-relations/calendar-and-publications/reports/2007/BASF_Financial_Report_2006.pdf

In September 1999, BASF AG pleaded guilty in the United States to participating in a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market shares for vitamins. The U.S. Department of Justice said the conspiracy ran from January 1990 until February 1999. Participants agreed to fix and raise prices, allocate sales volumes and market shares, divide contracts, and rig bids for vitamin premixes sold in the United States and elsewhere. BASF was sentenced to pay a $225 million criminal fine. At the time, the Justice Department described the vitamins case as one of the largest and most far-reaching international cartel prosecutions it had handled. Source: U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/1999/May/196at.htm U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/archive/atr/public/press_releases/2000/4494.pdf