The French Competition Council (FCC) has found that recruiter Vediorbis has been involved in anti-competitive practices but decided that parent firm Groupe Vedior France was not liable.

A statement released today (2 Feb) by Randstad, the new parent firm of the Vedior companies, revealed that the FCC has imposed a fine of €18.2m (£16.3m) on Vediorbis.

In November 2004, Vedior announced that the French competition authorities had started an investigation. Later on, in November 2007, Groupe Vedior France and its subsidiary Vediorbis, received a statement of objections from the FCC alleging exchanges of commercially sensitive information with competitors from 2003 to 2004 and a specific concerted practice in connection with one tender offer.

Vedior decided to enter into a settlement negotiaiton with the FCC and obtained a reduction of fine in exchange for not challenging the objections and for the quality of its commitments to respect competition rules.

Randstad said it will study the findings carefully.