The European Commission has fined 14 international groups of companies a total of € 169 million for participating in the period 2002-2007 in four distinct cartels aimed at fixing prices and other trading conditions for international air freight forwarding services, in breach of EU antitrust rules. The freight forwarders colluded on surcharges and charging mechanisms concerning important trade lanes, in particular the Europe-USA and the China/Hong Kong-Europe lanes. Participants and duration varied in each of the four cartels. In four distinct cartels, the cartelists established and coordinated four different surcharges and charging mechanisms, which are component elements of the final price billed to customers for these services. In most cases, the freight forwarders took specific measures to conceal the cartel behaviour. In one of the cartels ("new export system" cartel, see below), the participants organised their contacts in a so-called "Gardening Club" and code names based on names of vegetables – such as asparagus and baby courgettes – were used when talking about fixing prices. In another, a specific yahoo email account was set up to facilitate exchanges between the cartel participants ("currency adjustment factor" cartel). The fines were set on the basis of the EU 2006 Guidelines on fines. Deutsche Post (including its subsidiaries DHL and Exel) received full immunity from fines. Deutsche Bahn (including Schenker and BAX), CEVA, Agility and Yusen received reductions of fines ranging from 5 to 50 %. The reductions reflected the timing of their cooperation and the extent to which the evidence they provided helped the Commission to prove the respective cartels.