EU probes AB-InBev over curbing parallel imports

The European Commission, which also serves as the EU’s antitrust watchdog, has launched a probe into AB-InBev over concerns that it is using its dominant position in Belgium to prevent “parallel trade” of its own brands from neighbouring countries.

The probe, announced on 30 June 2016, could not come at a worse time. The world’s number one brewer is in the process of purchasing its rival SABMiller, in a deal worth some GBP 77 billion that would create the world’s largest beer company.

The commission has already vetted that merger, as has South Africa’s Competition Tribunal, though with conditions attached in both cases.

But the European Commission now has separate concerns that AB-InBev may be “pursuing a deliberate strategy” to curtail imports of its own beers from less expensive countries such as the Netherlands and France to the more expensive Belgian market.

“AB-InBev’s strong position on the Belgian beer market is not a problem,” said the EU’s Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “However, we want to make sure that there are no anti-competitive obstacles to trade in beer within [Europe],” she added.

The commission thinks that keeping out cheaper imports would be both against the interests of consumers and anti-competitive. In particular, the commission said it will look into whether AB-InBev is changing the packaging of beer cans or bottles to make them harder to sell in other countries, as well as whether it is restricting non-Belgian retailers’ access to certain rebates and key products.

Such behaviours would create “anti-competitive obstacles to trade”, in breach of EU laws, the commission argued in its statement.

If found guilty, AB-InBev faces the risk of a fine, which could be up to 10 percent of its global turnover.