Division (7)

The agreement is made clear from an internal note of the group Heineken. Groupe Danone and Brasseries Kronenbourg SA have moreover not contested the existence of the armistice agreement. It should however be noted that the Commission does not have any proof of implementation of the agreement. On the contrary, certain wholesalers indicated on the agreed list as attributed to one party have finally been acquired by the other party and the parties continued to acquire wholesalers outside the agreed list. Moreover, in the period from 1996 to 2002, the parties tended to supplant their competitors’ beer by their own beer within the distribution network under their control. An agreement intended to ensure equilibrium between brands thus became pointless.