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UPDATE 1-EU's Vestager warns of more anti-cartel raids, criticises 'no-poach' deals

(Adds details, background)

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - EU enforcers are planning a series of raids against companies suspected of illegal price-fixing, Europe's anti-trust chief warned on Friday, as she also sounded the alarm about competition in labour markets due to "no-poach" deals.

The European Commission last week raided Europe's largest pulp producers Stora Enso and UPM, and Metsa Board unit Metsa Fibre, the first in two years as the COVID-19 pandemic halted such actions.

Companies suspected of taking part in other cartels should soon see officials knocking on their doors, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

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"And that's just the start of a series of raids that we're planning for the months to come – you'll understand if I don't say exactly when or where they're going to happen," she told a conference organised by the Italian anti-trust authority in Rome.

Companies found guilty of taking part in cartels face fines as much as 10% of their global turnover. Whistleblowers are rewarded with immunity from sanctions while those who provide crucial information can get hefty reductions in their penalties.

She said regulators may sweeten such so-called leniency deals with companies as the growth in private damages claims from customers deter many from sharing key data with enforcers.

Vestager also criticised "no-poach" agreements between companies, saying that this could create a cartel, a sign that she may be mulling action.

Individuals are directly effected "when companies collude to fix the wages they pay or when they use so-called 'no-poach' agreements as an indirect way to keep wages down, restricting talent from moving where it serves the economy best", she said.

No-poach agreements, in which companies agree not to hire each others' workers, and non-compete agreements, in which workers sign contracts pledging not to leave to work for a rival, have in recent years drawn criticism. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Alex Richardson)