Two brewers fined for collusion
Tu felix Austria? No longer. Like some of their German counterparts, two Austrian brewers have been engaged in some illegal hanky-panky. On 30 January 2014 the Austrian Cartel Court fined two small brewers for vertical collusion with the retailers. Total fines were EUR 252,000 Euro. Villacher Bier has to pay EUR 195,000 and Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg EUR 57,000, it was reported.
The Austrian anti-trust watchdog said the two illegally coordinated beer prices, especially promotion prices, with the retailers over several years.
While Villacher Bier accepted the fine, Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg said it did not share the Cartel Office’s view, but had no choice but to go along with the penalty as legal proceedings would have cost them far more.
The Austrian trust-busters seem less vicious than the Germans when it comes to issuing fines. In the case of Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg the fine of EUR 57,000 equals about 25 percent of the brewer’s annual profits.
In Germany, five brewers were fined a total of EUR 106 million in early January this year over cartel offences. The individual fines could almost wipe out their annual profits as they represent 10 percent of the convicts’ turnover.
