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Johannesburg - Sasol, the world's largest fuel from coal producer, is appealing the European Commission's (EC) decision to fine it R4.1bn for its participation in a paraffin wax cartel.
The petrochemical giant on Friday said the "fine is too high and should be reduced".
In a statement to the JSE the company said it planned to lodge an appeal in December 2008 with the European Court of First Instance in Luxemburg against the EC's decision.
Sasol's Hamburg-based wax division Sasol Wax GmbH was among nine
companies fined a total of R8.6bn by the EC, Europe's antitrust watchdog, for participating in a paraffin wax cartel and
violating antitrust laws last month.
The company indicated immediately that it would consider appealing the fine, saying it was "surprised" by and did not understand the reasons for the magnitude of the fine.
Sasol's €318m fine was the largest of the fines imposed by
the EC and was based on the EC finding that the company was a leader of the cartel.
"ExxonMobil, MOL, Repsol, Sasol, Shell and Total also engaged in market allocation for this product and ExxonMobil, Sasol, Shell, RWE and Total also fixed prices for slack wax sold to end-customers on the German market," the EC said in its official
Calling the cartel the "paraffin mafia", the EC found that from 1992 to 2005, the producers of paraffin waxes and slack wax "operated a cartel in which they fixed prices for paraffin waxes".
At 10:32 shares in Sasol were trading 2.48% or R7.01 firmer at R290 on the JSE.
- I-Net Bridge