BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Food company Conserve Italia has run a cartel to distort competition in canned vegetables in the European Union, breaking EU antitrust rules, the European Commission said on Monday in a preliminary funding and sending a statement of objections.
The Commission said it had informed Conserve Italia Soc. Coop. Agricola and its subsidiary Conserves France SA – together known as Conserve Italia – of its preliminary finding that were guilty of “colluding to distort competition in the market for canned vegetables in the European Economic Area”.
The investigation follows a 2019 decision to impose a fine of more than 30 million euros ($35.26 million) on French and Dutch firms who also ran a cartel for canned vegetables in the European Union.
($1 = 0.8508 euros)
(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
