Dusseldorf  - A German court agreed Wednesday to hear a huge damages claim alleging price collusion by six German cement manufacturers, with a Belgian-based firm, Cartel Damage Claims (CDC), suing the six in place of the customers.

CDC executive Ulrich Classen said the basic claim was for 150 million euros, but with interest, it totalled 350 million euros (540 million dollars). CDC would produce 300,000 invoices it claimed were over-priced.

The state superior court in Dusseldorf agreed to a hearing after examining the broad outline of the claim, which is a legal novelty in Germany, where price-fixing is usually prosecuted by the authorities and resolved with a fine.

In 2003, Germany's Federal Cartel Office fined the six cement companies a record 661 million euros for decades of collusion, but that money went to the government, not the buyers of the cement.

To obtain compensation for the same price fixing, the buyers have transferred their rights as civil claimants to CDC. (dpa)