Press Release: Competition: Commission fines members of beer cartel in The Netherlands over EUR 273 million

Author (Corporate)
Series Title
Series Details IP/07/509 (18.4.07)
Publication Date 18/04/2007
Content Type

The European Commission has fined the Dutch brewers Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria a total of €273 783 000 for operating a cartel on the beer market in The Netherlands, in clear violation of EC Treaty rules that outlaw restrictive business practices (Article 81). The Commission's decision names the Heineken group, Grolsch and Bavaria, together with the InBev group which also participated in the cartel. Beer consumption is around 80 litres per capita in The Netherlands. Between at least 1996 and 1999, the four brewers held numerous unofficial meetings, during which they coordinated prices and price increases of beer in The Netherlands. InBev received no fines as they provided decisive information about the cartel under the Commission’s leniency programme.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/509&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Related Links
European Commission: DG Communication: MEMO/07/136 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/136&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
European Commission: DG Communication: SPEECH/07/231 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/07/231&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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