Retailers fined EUR 90 million for beer, coffee and sweets cartel

Germany’s trust busters are cracking down on vertical cartels too. After issuing hefty penalties to several of the country’s big brewers, the regulatory agency on 9 May 2016 fined a number of retailers, including EDEKA, Metro, Netto, Kaufland and a regional drinks retailer.

According to the whistle blower AB-InBev, these retailers agreed to fix prices for its brands Beck’s, Franziskaner and Hasseröder.

As in the previous horizontal cartel investigation, which caught Germany’s brewers red-handed in 2014, AB-InBev went scotch-free because it had helped with the investigation.

Additionally, the discount retailer Lidl was fined over illegal price agreements with the confectionary producer Haribo, as was the chemist Rossmann, which colluded over coffee prices.

Critics complain that the collective fine is impossible to break down. Obviously, it is composed of a variety of approaches that cannot be quantified by the usual revenue shares. In addition, three more investigations still await completion.

Overall, they say, the cartel office has put on a poor show. In view of what is rumoured to be going on – a massive scam according to insiders – the regulator only dealt with an old chestnut: schemes that took place between 2006 and 2009.