Carlsberg not off the hook in beer cartel trial

Germany | The Federal Court of Justice overturned a ruling by a lower court in Düsseldorf, which had argued in April 2019 that the case against Carlsberg in the so-called German beer cartel had lapsed. Now the case needs to be retried.

Carlsberg’s German subsidiary may not get away unscathed in its long-running dispute with the German Cartel Office. In 2014, the Cartel Office imposed heavy fines on several breweries, including Radeberger, Krombacher, Veltins, Warsteiner and Carlsberg, for price fixing between 2006 and 2008.

Several breweries decided to settle with the Cartel Office out of court and paid their fines, while Carlsberg went to court to appeal against the decision. Carlsberg’s original fine was EUR 62 million (USD 86 million). In the proceedings, the prosecutor asked for Carlsberg’s fine to be raised to EUR 250 million (USD 286 million). When the proceedings were unexpectedly closed last spring because of the statute of limitations, Carlsberg already saw itself as the winner.

After the Federal Court of Justice toppled Düsseldorf court’s ruling on 7 October 2020, a spokesperson for Carlsberg commented: “We and our lawyers are very surprised by the decision of the Federal Court of Justice. We are still convinced that we did nothing wrong.”