Is the ‘Hybrid’ Settlement in the Animal Feed Phosphates Cartel Case Pointless?

(by Andreas Stephan) On 20 July 2010, the European Commission announced the conclusion of the second cartel case (after DRAM) to employ its new settlement notice. The notice was introduced in June 2008 as a way of expediting cartel investigations, inspired largely by the success of plea bargains in swiftly concluding serious competition law cases in the United States.  Unfortunately, one of the firms under investigation in this case pulled out of the settlement procedure, raising interesting questions about the value of settlements in cartel cases.