Editing Royal Swinkels (section)

==Price fixing conviction==
On 18 April 2007 the [[European Commission]] imposed punitive fines on three major European breweries for operating a [[cartel|price fixing cartel]] in the [[Netherlands]]. The three were [[Heineken]] (€219.3m), [[Grolsch]] (€31.65m) and Swinkels Family Brewers (€22.85m). A fourth participant in the cartel, [[InBev]] (formerly [[Interbrew]]), did not receive a penalty because it provided "decisive information" about the cartel's operations between 1996 and 1999, as well as about others in the European Union. These four brewers had control of 95% of the Dutch market, with [[Heineken]] claiming a half and the three others 15% each.<ref name = 'beer'>{{cite news | first= David| last= Gow| title=Heineken and Grolsch fined for price-fixing | date= April 18, 2007| url =http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2059542,00.html | work =[[The Guardian]] | access-date = 2007-08-01 | location=London}}</ref>

EU Competition Commissioner [[Neelie Kroes]] said she was "very disappointed" that the collusion took place at the very highest (boardroom) level. She stated, "This is simply unacceptable: that major beer suppliers colluded to up prices and to carve up markets among themselves. She added, "Heineken, Grolsch, Bavaria and InBev tried to cover their tracks by using code names and abbreviations for secret meetings to carve up the market for beer sold to supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and cafes. The [[price fixing]] extended to cheaper [[Store brand|own-brand]] labels and [[Rebate (marketing)|rebates]] for [[Bar (establishment)|bars]].<ref name="beer"/>