Mexico’s collegiate circuit tribunal has ruled in favour of
Comercio para el Desarrolo Mexicano (CDM), a company made up of former employees of the global cement manufacturing giant, together with the now obsolete Federal Competition Commission, accused Cemex in 2004 of monopolistic practices. CDM claimed the company had blocked 27,000tonnes of Russian cement from entering Mexico via the ship known as Mary Nour. The competition commission at the time, which now corresponds to anti-trust agency Cofece, fined Cemex €556,779.29 (MXN 10.2 million) after the cement shipment was sold in Africa instead. The latter then appealed the decision in court. With this appeal finally granted, the fine set in December 2012 is withdrawn by Cofece, as is the verdict from May 2013 which confirmed this sanction. The reason for the decision in June 2013 to grant the appeal is that it was unclear which actions were at issue, and it was said that the accusations lacked substantiation.
The verdict in favour of Cemex is now said to be final and cannot be appealed.
