The owner of Toblerone, Milka and Oreo has been fined €337.5m (£288m) for anti-competitive practices in the EU.
The US food group Mondelēz is one of the world’s largest confectionery companies and also owns Ritz and TUC biscuits, Cadbury and Côte D’Or chocolate and the coffee brands JAG, Jacobs and Velours Noir.
It was found to have been involved in 22 unfair trade practices, according to the European Commission on Thursday. It meant that wholesalers and shoppers and traders were prevented from buying chocolate bars in another member state where they could be up to 40% cheaper or selling into a market where they could get a higher price for their product.
“It is blatantly illegal,” said the EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, adding that the fine sent a “clear signal” the commission would penalise any company that broke the single market rules.
“This case is about the price of groceries, which is a key concern to European citizens – and even more obvious in times of very high inflation, where many are in a cost of living crisis.”
She said the EU investigation, which started in 2019, showed that Mondelēz had “illegally restricted retailers from sourcing these products from member states where prices are lower” to maintain higher prices. “This harmed consumers who ended up paying more for chocolates, biscuits and coffee,” she said.
The restrictive practices breached internal market rules that allowed shoppers to buy from a different member state if products were cheaper or manufacturers or wholesalers to sell in a member state where they got higher prices for their goods.
This “parallel trade” was “at the heart” of the concept of the single market, Vestager told reporters. She said the price differences between member states for chocolate ranged between 10% and 40% and “sometimes more”.
Vestager said the commission had found that Mondelēz had prevented 11 distributors “from making such sales either by imposing contractual restrictions or by asking them to request permission on a case by case basis”. It also found it had abused its dominant position.
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In one instance Mondelēz took Côte D’Or chocolate bars off the shelves in the Netherlands to “prevent retailers from re-selling them in Belgium” where they were more expensive. In another case it prevented a wholesaler from buying its chocolate in Germany where it was cheaper.
Vestager said the breaches were “very serious” but the commission took account of the fact that Mondelēz had cooperated with the investigation. In light of this, and the “efficient resolution” of the case, it had decided to reduce the fine by 15%.
The unfair practices had stopped in 2020, the commission said.