London CNN —Mondelez, the maker of Oreo and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, has been fined €337.5 million ($366 million) for hindering the trade of chocolate, cookies and coffee between European Union countries in order to keep prices high.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, said in a statement Thursday that Mondelez had illegally limited cross-border sales within the EU to maintain higher prices for its products.
The European Commission, which started looking into the case in 2019, found that Mondelez International (MDLZ) had deliberately restricted cross-border trade and abused “its dominant position” in some national markets for the sale of chocolate bars.
Mondelez made an accrual for the fine last year and no further measures will be necessary to finance it.
In another case, Mondelez required a customer to charge higher prices for exports compared with domestic sales.
Persons:
London CNN — Mondelez, Margrethe Vestager, Mondelez, “, Mark Thompson
Organizations:
London CNN, Cadbury, Union, European Commission, Mondelez International, EU
Locations:
Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania