On Thursday 13 November, the European Commission announced the opening of a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether the Austrian company Red Bull has abused its position to implement, at least in the Netherlands, an illegal strategy aimed at restricting competition on the wholesale market for energy drinks.
After carrying out a series of unannounced inspections in 2023 at various of the brand’s establishments (see EUROPE 13146/16), the EU institution is concerned that Red Bull: - granted monetary and non-monetary incentives to its off-trade customers (supermarkets, service stations, etc.) to stop selling certain competing energy drinks in sizes exceeding 250 ml or to disadvantage these products in terms of visibility; - misused its position as category manager at its customers so that competing energy drinks sold in sizes exceeding 250 ml were withdrawn from sale or disadvantaged.
Under category management agreements identified by the Commission in its June 2022 guidelines on vertical agreements (see EUROPE 12949/20), shops such as supermarkets entrust the marketing of a category of products to a specific supplier (‘category captain’) the role of which may cover its own products, but also those of its competitors. The category manager may thus have an influence on, for instance, the selection, placement and promotion of competing products in a shop.
The Commission stresses that this is the first formal investigation into a potential abuse relating to the misuse of a category manager position by a supplier to limit or disadvantage competing products.
In October 2025, the European General Court rejected Red Bull’s appeal against the Commission’s decision to carry out unannounced inspections at its premises, ruling that the decision was well-founded (Case T-306/23). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)