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Germany: Bundeskartellamt issues €242mn in fines for price fixing

By  |  August 3, 2016

Imposing fines totalling around 242 million euros, the Bundeskartellamt has almost concluded one of its most costly fine proceedings to date, with the proceedings having begun as early as January 2010.

The fines were issued for illegal price-fixing agreements between manufacturers and trading companies. By entering into illegal price-fixing agreements regarding retail prices, manufacturers and trading companies violated antitrust law . The commodity groups affected were beer, coffee, confectionary, pet food and toiletries.

According to information provided by the authorities, the brewery and several distributors were said to have made arrangements to increase retail prices for various kinds of beer and hoped that these price increases would catch on among other distributors. The victims of these types of arrangements were said to be consumers. The proceedings in question, which have now been virtually concluded, concerned so-called vertical agreements.

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