The European Commission found that the actions of Mondelēz represented a breach of competition rules. Credit: Getty / Marilyn Nieves
The European Commission has fined Mondelēz International €337.5m for hindering the cross-border trade of chocolate, biscuits and coffee products between EU member states.
It was ruled following an investigation by the Commission that the actions of Mondelēz represented a breach of EU competition rules. This included engaging in anticompetitive agreements with the goal of restricting trade and abusing its dominant position in certain national markets.
In particular, the probe found that Mondelēz engaged in 22 anticompetitive agreements or concerted practices by limiting the territories or customers to which seven wholesale customers could resell its products and preventing 10 exclusive distributors from replying to sale requests from customers located in other member states without permission.
Meanwhile, Mondelēz was found to have refused to supply a broker in Germany in order to prevent the resale of chocolate tablet products in where prices were higher, in addition to ceasing the supply of these products in the Netherlands to prevent them from being imported into Belgium.
The Commission concluded that Mondelēz’s practices prevented retailers from being able to freely source products in member states with lower prices by artificially partitioning the internal market.
However, Mondelēz was granted a 15% fine reduction because it cooperated with the investigation and acknowledged its liability for the infringement of EU competition rules.
“Prices for food differ between Member States,” explained Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president in charge of competition policy.
“Trade over borders of Member States in the internal market can lower prices and increase the availability of products for consumers. This is especially important in times of high inflation. In today’s decision, we find that that Mondelēz illegally limited cross-border sales across the EU. Mondelez did so to maintain higher prices for its products to the detriment of consumers. We have therefore fined Mondelēz €337.5 million.”
With a presence in more than 150 countries around the world, Mondelēz owns brands including Cadbury, Milka, Oreo and Toblerone.
