Competition watchdog dismisses case against SAB

The mills of the law grind slowly. On 24 March 2014 South Africa’s Competition Tribunal threw out a seven-year antitrust case against SAB, the South African unit of SABMiller, arguing there was not enough evidence to prove the brewing company is breaking the law.

The Competition Commission – which investigates and refers cases to the tribunal for a ruling – had alleged SABMiller broke the law by giving its appointed distributors discounts and making it difficult for those without such discounts to compete.

“The appointed distributors were not sufficiently autonomous to be considered competitors of one another and so it could not be said that competition between them had been restricted,” the tribunal was quoted as saying.

SAB has about 90 percent of the South African beer market.