The European Commission suspects that the company AB InBev abused its dominant position by hindering the import of its Jupiler and Leffe beers into Belgium from the Netherlands and France, where they are cheaper. On 30 November, the Commission sent a statement of objections to the company.
Anheuser-Busch InBex SA (AB InBev) is the world’s largest brewer of beers and holds a very strong position on the Belgian beer market. Its most popular beer brands in Belgium are Jupiler and Leffe, which it also sells in the Netherlands and France at lower prices than in Belgium due to the increased competition faced on these two markets.
The European Commission’s preliminary view set out in the statement of objections sent to the Belgian company, following on from the opening of a formal investigations on 30 June 2016 (see EUROPE 11584), is that AB InBev is dominant on the Belgian beer market. In hindering supermarkets and wholesalers in Belgium in acquiring cheaper Jupiler and Leffe beers in France or the Netherlands for import into Belgium since 2009, AB InBev has, in the view of the Commission, been abusing its dominant position, in contravention of Article 102 of TFEU.
AB InBev changed the packaging of Jupiler and Leffe beer cans and limited Dutch retailers’ access to key products and promotions on Jupiler, in order to prevent them from bringing less expensive beer products to Belgium.
The Commission’s view is that these practices have created anti-competitive obstacles to trade and partitioned the EU’s single market along national borders, thereby infringing European competition rules through abuse of a dominant position. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)