19 August 2008 - Central European soft drinks company Kofola has been fined CZK13.5 million (EUR 554,779) by the Czech competition authorities after being found guilty of price fixing.
The Office for the Protection of Competition (UOHS) said the penalty had been imposed after Kofola had been involved with “forbidden and void vertical agreements on retail price maintenance with their customers” in various regions of the Czech Republic between 2001 and 2008.
The Czech competition group said this practice was a serious breach of competition regulations to the detriment of consumers, who were forced to pay higher than market prices for the company’s products.
A UOHS statement said a number of the company’s wholesale customers “were bound to apply unified prices in further sale. The agreements mentioned above restrained competitive relations among Kofola customers and therefore decreased consumer benefits, otherwise resulting from the unharmed competition on the market of non-alcoholic beverages.
“Resale price maintenance ultimately leads to price increase for consumers and restriction of competition within the market of the given brand. Therefore, the Czech and European competition law consider such behaviour to be serious breach of competition rules.”
The financial penalty against the company had been reduced by about 50% because Kofola had cooperated with the enquiry and acknowledged its behaviour, said the UOHS.
As well as the Czech Republic, Kofola has a presence in Poland, Slovakia and Hungry. It produces a range of fruit drinks, tonics, cola and water, employing over 1,000 people.