SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- LG Electronics, South Korea's consumer electronics giant, said Thursday that it planned to appeal the decision by the European Commission (EC) to impose an administrative fine for price-rigging of the currently obsolete cathode ray tubes (CRT).
On Wednesday, the EC imposed a fine of 491,567,000 euros (697.5 billion won or 644 million U.S. dollars) on LG Electronics for allegedly colluding to fix prices of CRT sold in Europe during the period of late 1990s to 2006.
"LG Electronics is currently reviewing the European Commission' s decision with the intention to appeal the decision," the company said in an e-mailed statement.
The EC said that LG Electronics was liable for the period prior to July 2001 when it made and sold CRT in addition to a period after that date, even though the company had transferred its CRT business to LG Philips Displays, a joint venture between LG and Royal Philips Electronics. In 2006, LG Philips Displays went bankrupt.
Regarding this, LG said that it should not be held liable for any conduct of LG Philips Displays, which operated independently from LG Electronics at all times, noting that for the period prior to the transfer of LG's CRT business to LG Philips Displays, any action by the EC is in any event time-barred.
"Other leading competition authorities, including the Korean Fair Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Canadian Competition Bureau, have investigated the same facts and concluded that LG Electronics should not be held liable for the conduct of LG Philips Displays," said John Kwon, executive vice president of LG Electronics.
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