BAT Left to Pick up Italy Price-Fixing Tab

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Dec 12, 2007 12/13/2007

British American Tobacco Italia may have to pay a fine levied in a price-fixing case involving the company's predecessor, according to a report by Stephanie Bodoni for Bloomberg News citing a decision by the EU's highest court. Italian regulators fined Ente Tabacchi Italiani (ETI) and Philip Morris Italia €70 million in 2003, the year BAT acquired ETI, but BAT and PM challenged the decision, arguing that part of the fine should be paid by ETI's predecessor, Italy's state-run tobacco agency. However, the European Court of Justice's highest chamber of 13 judges has ruled that responsibility for breach of the competition rules can be passed from one economic entity to the one that succeeds it, if both answer to the same public authority. Enditem