Reckitt fined €24m for price fixing laundry products

Reckitt Benckiser has been fined €24m by the German cartel office for fixing prices on dishwashing and laundry products with its German rival Henkel.

The fine was imposed on Reckitt and one of its employees after it was accused of illegally coordinating dishwasher detergent prices and exchanging competitive-sensitive information.

The authority said it had found four instances between mid-2005 and mid-2007 where Reckitt's German unit and Henkel fixed prices, such as by increasing prices for Reckitt's Calgonit dishwasher detergents, known as Finish in other markets, and Henkel's Somat.

The fine follows big penalties on Unilever and Procter & Gamble earlier this year for fixing washing powder prices.