The European Commission has charged 18 chemical firms with conspiring to fix prices of hydrogen peroxide and derivatives sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate.

A spokesman for the EC's competition arm confirms that it sent a formal "statement of objections" to the firms, including Kemira, Akzo Nobel, Solvay, Degussa, and Arkema.

All five companies acknowledge that they received a stack of documents from the EC outlining the case against them. They now have two months to respond. The EC did not identify the 13 other firms charged in the scheme.

The investigation covers the period from 1994 to 2001. The firms are accused of collectively agreeing on prices, exchanging information on prices and sales volumes, agreeing to capacity reductions, and monitoring each other's compliance with these arrangements.

The EC's inquiry dates at least as far back as March 2003, when antitrust squads simultaneously raided a number of companies on suspicion of conspiring to fix prices of hydrogen peroxide, solvents, methacrylates, and polyvinyl chloride plasticizers. Solvay and Arkema were among those in the search.

According to press reports, Degussa could avoid fines because it informed on other companies. European authorities offer immunity to those who inform on coconspirators.

Just last month, the EC handed out fines totaling $280 million to Akzo, Arkema, and Hoechst for fixing prices of monochloroacetic acid between 1984 and 1999.