Oreo maker Mondelez fined $366m by EU for cross-border trade curbs

Oreo maker Mondelez International MDLZ.O was fined 337.5 million euros ($365.7 million) by EU antitrust regulators on Thursday (23 May) for impeding cross-border trade of chocolate, biscuits and coffee products between EU countries.

The sanction by the European Commission continues its crackdown on companies imposing territorial supply constraints on distributors and retailers.

The Commission said Mondelez had engaged in anti-competitive deals and had also abused its dominant position in breach of EU antitrust laws. The company's fine was reduced by 15% after it acknowledged its wrongdoing.

"We are determined to uphold fundamental freedoms in the European Union and to ensure that European citizens have access to the biggest variety at the lowest prices that the market can offer," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told a press conference.

Mondelez said the EU case concerned historical, isolated incidents, most of which stopped or were remedied well in advance of the Commission's investigation.

"This historical matter is not representative of who we are and the strong culture of compliance for which we strive," a Mondelez spokesperson said.

The Commission said that Mondelez limited the territories or customers to which seven wholesale customers could resell its products between 2012 and 2019 and also prevented 10 exclusive distributors in some EU countries from replying to sale requests from customers in other EU countries between 2006 and 2020.

Between 2015 and 2019 the company also refused to supply a broker in Germany to prevent the resale of chocolate tablet products in four countries where prices were higher, the EU watchdog said, adding that Mondelez also stopped the supply of such products in the Netherlands to prevent them from being imported into Belgium.