Heineken has been found guilty of anti-competitive practices within the COMESA region, including blocking its distributors from selling other brands, setting for them minimum resale prices and enforcing territorial restrictions.
- •In its findings, Comesa Competition Commission notes that such restrictions have the effect of reducing trade between member states by carving out the common market according to national borders.
- •Heineken’s distribution agreement contains clauses which prohibit the distributor from selling outside their allocated territories and purchasing products from any other source other than Heineken.
- •The beer manufacturer has committed to pay a financial penalty of US$ 900, 000 and undertake a full audit of its distribution agreements, among other measures.
The anti-trust investigations began in 2021, and the Commission analysed several facets in Heineken’s distribution agreement. Among the findings is that the agreement stipulates the price the product must be sold for by the distributor and includes a table which provides the amount of distributor’s margin inclusive and exclusive of the applicable taxes.
The commission says that it was concerned that the stipulations limit freedom of distributors to determine their own prices by effectively setting the price at which the distributors are expected to sell the products.
Heineken, which submitted its responses to the statements of concern on January 22 last year, engaged the commission in commitment negotiations with a view of achieving expedited resolution of the investigation.
The firm agreed to pay administrative penalty of US$ 900,000, submit periodic compliance reports, undertake a full audit of its distribution agreements in the common market and amend clauses containing restrictions.
The beer maker will also train its distributors, staff and management on the amended distributor agreements and management system.
Heineken has operations in Algeria, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, and Reunion.