Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- BASF SE, the world’s largest chemical company, Akzo Nobel NV and Arkema SA may be fined by the European Union this week for fixing the price of a chemical used in plastic production, said five people with knowledge of the case.

The European Commission in Brussels will decide whether to levy any penalties Nov. 11, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision isn’t public. Chemtura Corp., the world’s largest maker of plastic additives, may not be fined because it was the first to cooperate with EU regulators, one of the people said. They didn’t know the amounts of any possible penalties.

“A decision by the European Commission is expected Wednesday,” Sybille Chaix, a spokeswoman for Arkema, said in an e-mail today. “We don’t know the amount of the fine, but we will very probably appeal.”

Heat stabilizers, the chemical that is the focus of the EU investigation, are used in packaging, credit cards, bottles and artificial leather. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has made fighting cartels one of her main priorities, with the regulator levying 9.1 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in fines since 2005.

Akzo spokeswoman Heleen van de Lustgraaf and Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman, declined to comment.

Jennifer Moore-Braun, a spokeswoman for Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF, which acquired chemical maker Ciba Inc. in April, said the company is “waiting for the decision.” Ciba, which received the EU complaint in March, sold the heat stabilizers business in 1998, she said.

Chemtura spokesman John Gustavsen also declined to comment. The Middlebury, Connecticut-based company said in an Oct. 29 U.S. regulatory filing that it had been granted conditional immunity from fines in the case.

Statement of Objections

Other companies that said they received a formal statement of objections from the EU in March include Baerlocher GmbH, a German plastic-additive maker, and Elementis Plc.

Baerlocher spokesman Stefan Horst declined to comment. Greg Quine, a spokesman for London-based Elementis at Financial Dynamics, wasn’t immediately available to comment.

The investigation was suspended while Amsterdam-based Akzo contested the EU’s seizure of documents during office raids in February 2003. Akzo, the world’s biggest maker of coatings and paints, lost its appeal in 2007 at the European Court of First Instance that the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege. The company has appealed to the EU’s highest court.

The probes began with raids against 14 companies in 2003 in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the U.K. Paris- based Arkema, the French chemicals maker spun off from oil company Total SA, and Akzo Nobel have previously faced penalties for price fixing.

The alleged price-fixing conspiracy concluded in 2000, the people said. The commission must rule on the case before a 10- year statute of limitations expires in February, they said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Newman in Brussels at Mnewman6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 14:05 EST