The Autorite de la concurrence has announced that it has fined commodity chemical distributors Brenntag, Caldic Est, Univar and Solvadis a total sum of €79 million in relation to an anticompetitive agreement that restricted competition by allocating customers among the parties and coordinating prices.

European Commission (EC) competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia has told European Parliament (EP) that the EC's public consultation on the terms of an antitrust settlement by Google Inc (Google) will be extended by one month. Mr Almunia reportedly told the EP that preliminary analysis of the submissions received on the matter suggested that the EC would almost certainly need to demand further concessions from the online search engine company.

U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum rejected the request of Dow Chemical Co. (Dow) to overturn a $400 million jury verdict regarding a urethane price-fixing case from earlier this year. In fact, the judge tripled the damages under U.S. antitrust law, ordering the company to pay $1.2 billion, making it the biggest U.S. verdict so far this year. Dow challenged the verdict on several grounds.

France's antitrust regulator the Autorité de la concurrence (the Autorité) has fined global pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis (Sanofi) a total of €40.6 million for breaching Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (26 October 2012) and Article L.420-2 (Anticompetitive practices) of the French Commercial Code (French language version available only) by "abus[ing] its dominant position in the French market" for the blood thinning prescription drug clopidogrel.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has handed down its decision in Case C-508/11 P ENI SpA v European Commission [2013] (8 May 2013), confirming the European Commission's (EC) 2006 decision to fine 13 companies a total of over €519 million for cartel conduct in the market for synthetic rubbers used to manufacture a range of general products, including tyres and golf balls.

Italy's antitrust regulator Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (the Autorità) has fined the nation's largest telecommunications provider Telecom Italia a total of over €103.7 million for abusing its dominant position in respect of the operation of telephone and broadband network infrastructure.

France's antitrust regulator the Autorité de la concurrence (Autorité) has announced that Mastercard and Visa have proposed to reduce their interbank fee rates in response to a 2011 decision whereby the Autorite "obtained from [French interbank network] GIE CB a substantial reduction in the main interbank fees on [its] CB card transactions (-36% for the interbank fee on payments and -21% for the interbank fee on withdrawals)".

The European Commission (EC) has announced that it is seeking public comment on a list of proposed commitments (3 April 2013) by Google that aim to address concerns the Google is abusing its dominant market position in web search, online search advertising and online search advertising intermediation within the European Economic Area.

Macmillan has moved to settle numerous antitrust lawsuits brought by the United States (US) Department of Justice (DoJ) and a class of plaintiffs regarding e-book pricing, in exchange for payment of a US$20 million fine, legal fees and a small award to individual plaintiffs.

Germany's antitrust regulator the Bundeskartellamt (BKA) has announced that a number of "leading" cement producers have been fined a record total of €380 million for cartel conduct. The BKA has welcomed the German Federal Court of Justice's decision to "largely [confirm]" the fines and therefore bring an end to proceedings which the BKA first substantially commenced in 2003, for cartel conduct that began in the 1990s.