![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timberindustrynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EuropeanCommission-1-7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The European Commission said on Thursday that it will end an investigation of firms in the softwood pulp industry over suspected violations of competition law due to insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n
It did not name the companies, but Finland\u2019s Stora Enso, UPM and Mets\u00e4 Fibre had confirmed that they were among the targets.<\/span><\/p>\n The Commission suspected that the companies had violated EU competition law by agreeing to fix prices through a cartel.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a thorough analysis and careful assessment of all the evidence gathered, the Commission has concluded that there is insufficient ground to further pursue the investigation,\u201d the EU antitrust watchdog said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe closure of the investigation is not a finding that the conduct in question complies with EU competition rules,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Unannounced dawn raids<\/strong><\/p>\n In October 2021, UPM and Stora Enso said that EU antitrust regulators had started an unannounced dawn raids at their premises. A surprise inspection was also carried out at Mets\u00e4 Fibre, a member of the Mets\u00e4 Group.<\/p>\n The Commission conducted raids on pulp companies in several other EU states as well.<\/p>\n UPM, Stora Enso and Mets\u00e4 are major players in the global forest industry. They also play a significant role in the Finnish national economy, accounting for almost 20 percent of Finland's goods exports.<\/p>\n In 2009, Stora Enso and Mets\u00e4 (then Mets\u00e4liitto) were fined by Finnish authorities for price-fixing. They found that UPM had also been involved but was not fined because it had informed authorities about the anti-competitive activities.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Commission said on Thursday that it will end an investigation of firms in the softwood pulp industry over suspected violations of competition law due to insufficient evidence. It did not name the companies, but Finland\u2019s Stora Enso, UPM … Continue reading