Grand Duchy’s brewers await cartel case verdict

Date: 20/07/05

Three of Luxembourg's four breweries will hear next week whether they have won their appeal on a cartel case. Brasseries Bofferding, de Wiltz and Battin appealed against a €448,000 fine (€400,000, €24,000 and €24,000 respectively) imposed on them by the European Commission in December 2001.

In a statement the Commission said that the fines imposed took account of the fact that while all three companies concerned are small- or medium-sized firms, Bofferding is a subsidiary of Interbrew (now Inbev), the second largest brewer in the world. Any fine is capped at 10% of the firm's turnover.

Brasserie de Luxembourg, the maker of Luxembourg's top beers Mousel and Diekirch, escaped any fines after blowing the whistle on the cartel. The court heard that between 1985 and 2000, all three had agreed not to muscle in on each other's exclusive arrangements with hotel and restaurant customers and tried to restrict foreign brewers from doing the same.

But the three breweries argued that the Commission did not take sufficient account of the economic situation at the time and did not provide proper reasoning for its decision in 2001.

The Court of First Instance will deliver its judgement next Wednesday (27 July).

Article anticipates a judgement by the European Court of First Instance, expected for 27 July, on an appeal on a cartel case involving three Luxembourg breweries. The European Commission had imposed fines totalling €448,000 on the companies in December 2001 for forming a cartel.