The European Commission decided on Friday 19 November to impose on Conserve Italia Soc. coop. agricola and its subsidiary Conserves France S.A. (Conserve Italia) a fine of €20 million for infringing EU rules on anti-competitive practices (see EUROPE 12574/10).
Conserve Italia participated, together with other market players, in a cartel for the supply of certain types of canned vegetables to retailers and/or catering companies in the European Economic Area (EEA).
In September 2019, the European Commission adopted a settlement decision against Bonduelle, Coroos and Groupe CECAB for their participation in the same cartel. Conserve Italia decided not to enter into a settlement, and the investigation continued (see EUROPE 12338/18).
For more than 13 years, Conserve Italia and the other players set prices, agreed on market shares and sales volumes, shared customers and markets, exchanged commercially sensitive information and coordinated their responses to tenders.
Their objective was to preserve or strengthen their market position, to maintain or increase selling prices, to reduce uncertainty about the future commercial behaviour of the participants, and to formulate and control marketing and trading conditions to their advantage. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)