Many of you will have seen the media reports on the French competition authority’s decision to impose fines on 20 parcel delivery companies (including a EUR 81 M fine for DHL Express France) for fuel surcharge and price fixing in the French domestic market between 2004 and 2010.
To clarify, this issue relates exclusively to the French domestic business that the Group acquired in 2000 and which we sold in 2010. It has no relation to the DHL Express business (or other DPDHL Group entities) operating in France today.
If you receive enquiries from customers on this topic, you should feel free to emphasise to them that this relates to a separate business entity that was disposed of five years ago and to reassure them that DHL Express has a rigorous compliance structure in place that reinforces our adherence to competition law in all markets in which we operate. We are still reviewing the case and our response from a legal perspective, so please refrain from making any comment on the fine itself or the actual judgement and direct any media enquiries to Dan McGrath.