Did the big breweries unfairly negotiate their prices with one another? The Federal Cartel Office sees this as proven and imposed fines. Carlsberg, however, does not want to accept that.
In the new version of the beer cartel proceedings against Carlsberg Germany, the brewery giant wants to finally get a fine from the Federal Cartel Office of 62 million euros off the table.
“At the end of the proceedings, from our point of view, there can only be an acquittal for Carlsberg,” said the lawyer for the brewery giant, Jürgen Wessing, on Friday at the start of the trial before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
The background: In 2014 the Federal Cartel Office imposed fines totaling more than 330 million euros on numerous well-known breweries such as Bitburger, Warsteiner, Veltins, Radeberger, Krombacher and Carlsberg for illegal price fixing. Unlike most of the other breweries, Carlsberg did not accept this and lodged an appeal with the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
This started a justice marathon. Carlsberg was initially successful. Because the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court stopped the proceedings because the allegations were statute-barred. But this decision was completely overturned by the Federal Court of Justice last year. The case must therefore now be renegotiated before another senate of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
According to the Cartel Office, the breweries are said to have agreed in 2007 to enforce price increases of one euro per crate. Carlsberg lawyer Wessing, however, vehemently contradicted this representation on the opening day. “Carlsberg did not agree on any prices.” The decision to increase prices at the beginning of 2008 was taken by the company autonomously and even led to a temporary drop in sales. The evidence will show that there is no evidence of anti-competitive agreements.
For the process, 33 negotiation days are initially scheduled until the end of October.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
