EU Commission initiates antitrust investigation against Red Bull
Red Bull is among the fast-selling products in Kenya, an East African country outside EU bloc and fears are rife the Austrian based firm could have extended anti-rival malpractices in other jurisdictions outside EU
The European Union yesterday announced a probe into energy drink maker, Red Bull over suspicions the Austrian company abused its dominant market position and potentially forced Europeans to pay higher prices.
The EU said it was concerned Red Bull gave “monetary and non-monetary incentives” to customers including supermarkets and fuel station shops to stop selling rival energy drinks in sizes that exceeded 250 millilitres.
Red Bull is among the fast-selling products in Kenya, an East African country outside EU bloc and fears are rife the Austrian based firm could have extended anti-rival malpractices in other jurisdictions outside EU.
It also has suspicions Red Bull sought to reduce the visibility of rivals in such stores “at least in the Netherlands”, but did not name other EU states.
EU antitrust investigators raided Red Bull premises in 2023, a move the giant challenged in court. In October, a top EU court ruled the decision to inspect Red Bull was well founded, Brussels said.
There is no deadline for the EU’s powerful antitrust regulator to complete its investigation and the opening of a probe does not prejudge the outcome.
“We want to see if these practices may be keeping prices high and limiting choice of energy drinks for consumers,” EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said.
“This investigation is part of the commission’s continued efforts to enforce competition rules in the food supply chain to the benefit of European consumers,” she added.
There are indications that Red Bull has provided supermarkets and gas stations with “monetary” and “non-monetary” incentives to prevent the sale of competing products.
It is being examined whether the Salzburg company has unlawfully restricted competition and abused its dominant market position.
The Brussels competition authorities fear that Red Bull may have pursued such a strategy at least in the Netherlands.
It is said to be primarily directed against the largest competitors of the energy drink manufacturer. The biggest competitor is the US energy drink manufacturer Monster Energy.
Accordingly, Red Bull is said to have attempted to stop or disadvantage the sale of competing brands among its customers, for example, by providing less visibility in stores.
According to the commission, this concerns energy drinks with more than 250 milliliters of content.
