EU charges Dutch brewers with price-fixing.AP -- The EU head office on Friday charged Dutch brewers with running a cartel that fixed beer prices from 1996 to 1999.The European Commission European Commission, branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) invested with executive and some legislative powers. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the European Community said it had evidence that rival beer companies in the Netherlands agreed on prices, allocated customers, discussed individual customers and exchanged commercially important and confidential information Noun 1. confidential information - an indication of potential opportunity; "he got a tip on the stock market"; "a good lead for a job" steer, tip, wind, hint, lead . "These practices affected the price of beer both sold to supermarkets and to hotels, restaurants and cafes," said European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd. The EU antitrust Antitrust The antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade. regulator regulator, n the mechanical part of a gas delivery system that controls gas pressure that allows a manageable flow of drug vapor to escape. regulator see reducing valve. never names the companies suspected of operating a cartel, but Royal Grolsch NV, Heineken NV and the Dutch arm of InBev SA confirmed they had received formal charges but refused to comment. Han van der Veen, spokesman for Bavaria NV, said the company received "a fat letter" from the European Commission. "We're going to need to read through it to figure out exactly what it is that they're accusing us of," he said. "But ... we don't agree with it and we deny any guilt." He declined to say whether there was any information in the letter about the size of fines Bavaria could face. The companies have two months to respond in writing. If found guilty, the EU can fine them up to 10 percent of their annual sales. In 2004, it fined Heineken and French food and beverage F&B is a common abbreviation in the United States and Commonwealth countries, including Hong Kong. F&B is typically the widely accepted abbreviation for "Food and Beverage," which is the sector/industry that specializes in the conceptualization, the making of, and delivery of foods. maker Groupe Danone Groupe Danone (Euronext: BN, NYSE: DA) (known as Dannon in the United States) is a food-product company with its central headquarters in Paris, France. It claims world leadership in dairy products,[1] more than $3 million for illegally controlling the French beer market. It has also fined brewers in Belgium and Luxembourg. A similar investigation in Italy was closed without charges being brought. |
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