Germany: Beer cartel trial opens in Germany

A judicial trial concerning a group of breweries which were accused of forming an illegal beer cartel in Germany opened at the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court on June 13, Xinhua reported on June 14.

The court will consider an appeal by the German subsidiary of the Danish Carlsberg brewery against hefty fines first imposed on the company by the Federal Cartel Office back in 2014. At the time, the German antitrust authorities collected damages worth 338 million euros (398 million U.S. dollars) from 11 companies, one industry association and 14 managers for allegedly having colluded to raise beer prices paid by consumers.

The largest share of those fines, 222 million euros, was shouldered by the Radeberger Group, owned by the German foodstuffs producer Dr. Oetker, and Carlsberg Germany. The German subsidiary of the Belgian Anheuer-Busch InBev brewery evaded fines entirely by acting as the principal witness in the antitrust investigations, while other companies such as Bitburger, Veltins, Warsteiner and Krombacher also cooperated with the Federal Cartel Office and were handed relatively modest fines.

However, the Radeberger Group and Carlsberg Germany launched a challenge to the Federal Cartel Office's decisions in their respective cases before the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court. Radeberger Group subsequently pulled out of the trial at the last minute, leaving Carlsberg Germany as the only remaining plaintiff in the case has now formally opened.

Speaking to the German press agency (dpa) on June 13, the antitrust expert and attorney Johann Brueck argued that it was not surprising that Radeberger Group had ultimately chosen to withdraw its appeal. Brueck highlighted that the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court would reach an "entirely new decision" with its verdict, meaning that there was a real risk that even higher fines could be imposed on the plaintiffs than those originally handed down by the Federal Cartel Office.

The Federal Cartel Office calculates the level of fines on the basis of additional revenue generated by illegal collusion on pricing. By contrast, judges at the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court follow a different procedure focusing on a company's total revenue as the basis for their own calculations and can legally impose fines of up to 10 percent of gross sales.

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