The European Commission imposed a €200 million fine on AB InBev (Belgium), the world's biggest beer company, on Monday 13 May for obstructing imports of its cheaper beer Jupiler from the Netherlands to Belgium.
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV/SA (AB InBev) markets, among other things, Jupiler beer, the most popular brand in Belgium and which represents around 40% of the Belgian beer market in terms of sales volume. The company also sells this beer in other EU Member States, notably France and the Netherlands. In the latter country, due to greater competitive pressure than in Belgium, Jupiler is sold to retailers and wholesalers at prices lower than those on Belgian territory.
In June 2016, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation to determine whether AB InBev had abused its dominant market position on the Belgian beer market by preventing imports of the Jupiler from the Netherlands or France (see EUROPE 11584/22). It subsequently sent the company a Statement of Objections in November 2017 (see EUROPE 11916/21).
In its decision of the day, the institution first concludes that AB InBev does indeed hold a dominant market position on the Belgian beer market, before adding that such a dominant position is not illegal, if an undertaking does not abuse its dominant market position to restrict competition.
Secondly, the Commission considers that the company abused this dominant market position from 2009 to 2016 by implementing a strategy aimed at limiting the possibility for supermarkets and wholesalers to buy Jupiler beer at lower prices in the Netherlands and to import it into Belgium. This is intended to maintain higher prices in Belgium.
To do this, AB InBev used several processes. First, it modified the packaging of several products bearing the Jupiler stamp provided to retailers and wholesalers in the Netherlands, for example by removing the French version of the mandatory information from the label, which had the effect of making it more difficult to sell these products in Belgium. AB InBev also limited the volumes of Jupiler beer supplied to a wholesaler in the Netherlands, to limit exports to Belgium. It also forced certain Belgian retailers to restrict imports of Jupiler beer from the Netherlands and made customer promotions on beer offered to a Dutch retailer subject to a prohibition on the latter applying similar promotions to Belgian customers.
Consequently, the Commission concluded that there had been an abuse of a dominant market position and that there had been an infringement of EU competition law rules.
AB InBev having cooperated with the Commission, in particular by ensuring that the packaging of all new and existing products in Belgium, France and the Netherlands would include the mandatory food information in Dutch and in French for the next five years, was granted a 15 % reduction in the fine. Thus, AB InBev will have to pay the sum of €200.4 million.
Satisfied retailers and wholesalers. The EuroCommerce organisation, which represents retailers and wholesalers, welcomed the European Commission's decision in a press release. “This is a very welcome outcome on an issue which we have been raising as a problem for many years. Manufacturers have been using a number of different practices to fragment the Single Market, some of these clearly illegitimate, and to the detriment of consumers by restricting choice and maintaining artificially high prices”, writes the organisation. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)