Hershey fined $4m for Canadian price fixing
The company admitted it had conspired, agreed or arranged to fix the price of chocolate in Canada in 2007 in a case heard before Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto last Friday.
Earlier this month the Canadian Competition Bureau laid charges against Nestlé, Mars and ITWAL Limited, a national network of independent wholesale distributors.
Hershey conceded that senior employees had shared pricing information with alleged members of the cartel.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) had recommended that Hershey receive lenient treatment after cooperating with authorities and agreeing to aid in future prosecutions.
An unnamed party has received immunity for originally tipping off authorities. Cadbury Schweppes (Mondelez) was involved in a civil case on Canadian chocolate price fixing along with the other parties in a case launched in 2008.
Hershey says current team had no involvement
Hershey Canada said in a statement earlier this month: "Hershey Canada promptly reported the conduct to the Competition Bureau, cooperated fully with its investigation and did not implement the planned price increase that was the subject of the 2007 communications."
It said it regretted its involved in the incident and said that the actions were limited to the Canadian marketplace.
“The current Hershey Canada senior management team as well as The Hershey Company and its management had no involvement in this conduct," it said.
Nestlé, Mars and Mondelez are also facing an antitrust lawsuit in the US that alleges the companies conspired together to fix chocolate prices in the country between 2002 and 2008. See HERE.
