Coca-Cola’s business practices are bringing Germany’s top competition watchdogs to task. The Federal Cartel Office announced on Tuesday in Bonn that abuse proceedings had been initiated against Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Deutschland GmbH due to possible anti-competitive discounting.
“There are indications that Coca-Cola could hinder the competitive opportunities of other companies through the design of its conditions towards German food retailers, in particular the discount structure,” explained head of the authority Andreas Mundt. “We will now look into this in more detail.”
The company confirmed the investigation at the request of the German Press Agency. “We are convinced that the proven business model of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in Germany is legally compliant with a balanced price and conditions concept. It is based on a fair principle of performance and consideration,” said Vice President Andrea Weckwert.
Do special requirements apply?
According to its own statements, the Federal Cartel Office initially wants to examine whether Coca-Cola has a dominant position on the market for soft drinks and is therefore subject to special antitrust regulations. It will also be investigated whether the conditions demanded by Coca-Cola from German food retailers correspond to the requirements. The question will also be whether food retail companies could have been improperly induced to purchase Coca-Cola’s entire product range, place it on the shelf and advertise it. This could have put other beverage manufacturers at an anti-competitive disadvantage.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners takes over the bottling and distribution of all of the company’s beverage brands in Germany on behalf of the Coca-Cola Company. The product range includes the brands Fanta, Sprite and Mezzo Mix.
