The European Commission has fined Mondelēz International, Inc. €337.5 million for obstructing cross-border trade of chocolate, cookies, and coffee products between EU member states, violating EU competition rules. This fine aligns with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ complaints about multinational corporations employing unfair practices to maintain high prices across Europe. The Commission is committed to removing such barriers to ensure a smoothly functioning single market.
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Mondelēz, a major US-based producer of popular brands like Côte d’Or, Milka, Oreo, and Toblerone, was found to have engaged in twenty-two anti-competitive agreements and practices, breaching Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). These practices included restricting wholesale customers from reselling products in certain areas, enforcing higher export prices, and preventing exclusive distributors from responding to sales requests from other member states without authorization. These actions occurred from 2006 to 2020 across all EU markets.
Additionally, Mondelēz abused its dominant market position, in violation of Article 102 TFEU, by refusing to supply intermediaries to prevent resales in specific countries and interrupting supplies to manipulate market prices. These practices, conducted between 2015 and 2019, aimed to prevent cross-border trade that could lower prices in higher-priced markets, thus harming EU consumers. The Commission’s decision underscores the importance of eliminating such practices to protect consumer interests and maintain market fairness.