Belgium: InBev can continue supplying bars with larger beer glasses

InBev can continue supplying Belgian bars with larger beer glasses after the country's competition regulator rejected a bid by café owners to force the brewer to return to a smaller size, International Herald Tribune published January 30.

The bar owners complained last September that InBev, the largest European brewer, was abusing its dominant position in Belgium by obliging bar owners to accept the larger glasses, which were introduced a year ago and are 10 percent bigger than older ones.
The Belgian Competition Authority ruled in an interim decision that forcing InBev to return three million smaller glasses "wasn't an economic option at this stage," Bert Stulens, an official at the agency, said in an interview Monday.

InBev began replacing 25-centiliter, or 8.5-ounce, glasses after changing the design of its Jupiler Bull logo last January. The café owners complained, saying that they lost money each time they filled the larger glasses.

Gwendoline Ornigg, an InBev spokeswoman, had no immediate comment. Lawyers representing the café owners were not immediately available.

InBev, which is based in Leuven, Belgium, provides glasses bearing its Jupiler beer trademark to bars for free. The company said in a statement in September that it was aware of bar owners' "difficult economic situation."

Beer consumption in Belgium is falling about 2 percent a year, part of a trend across Western Europe that has forced thousands of bars to close.

The new glasses are meant to help bartenders and beer drinkers because they have a clearly marked line at 25 centiliters, InBev said.

If the glasses are filled correctly, there is room for three centimetres, or one inch, of foam.

After the interim decision, the Belgian Competition Authority will make a final ruling on the complaint, Stulens said.

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