Brussels: Consumer goods giants Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G) were fined €315.2 million ($456 million) by EU regulators on Wednesday for fixing washing powder prices in eight EU countries.

Germany’s Henkel, which alerted the European Commission to the cartel in laundry detergents, was not fined. The penalty for Unilever was €104 million while P&G was fined €211.2 million.

As part of the Commission’s settlement procedure, the EU watchdog had cut the fines by 10% in return for the firms’ admissions that they participated in the cartel, which the Commission had dubbed “purity” in its investigation.

“By acknowledging their participation in the cartel, the companies enabled the Commission to swiftly conclude its investigation,” EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.

The fines had also been reduced under the Commission’s leniency programme related to voluntary disclosure of information.

World No.1 household products producer P&G owns the Tide, Gain and Era brands of washing powder while Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever makes detergent products under the brand names Omo and Surf. Henkel owns the Persil brand in most of Europe, while Unilever owns it in Britain, Ireland and France.

The cartel operated in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands between 2002 to 2005, the regulator said.