EU: The European Court upheld the fine against Danone for participating in a cartel on the Belgian beer market

The European Court of Justice on February 8 upheld a ruling by EU competition regulators against Danone for participating in a cartel on the Belgian beer market, according to AFX News.

In December 2001 the European Commission ordered the French food group to pay a fine of 44 million euros (57 million dollars) for the role of its Alken-Maes subsidiary, which the company has since sold.

The company lodged an appeal with the European Court of First Instance, which subsequently reduced the fine to 42.4 million euros in October 2005. Danone appealed again before the European Court of Justice, but the higher court confirmed the lower tribunal's decision.

According to the commission, Danone unit Alken-Maes was involved in various market-sharing arrangements with Interbrew (now InBev), another key player in the brewing industry, between 1993-1998. Their alleged activities included a general pact on investments, advertising, customer allocation, price-fixing and the exchange of information on monthly sales volumes.

The ECJ said today that the CFI's way of calculating the amount was "lawful" and the amount "therefore remains unaltered". A spokesman for EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said the ruling is significant as it is the first time the ECJ has "clearly confirmed the commission's policy of increasing fines for repeat offenders".

The court dismissed Danone's claim that sanctions imposed for repeated cartel infringements have no basis in EU law.

The ECJ's press office said: "The Court of Justice makes clear that any repeated infringement is among the factors to be taken into consideration in the analysis of the gravity of the infringement."

10 February, 2007