had formed a price cartel in the years from 1996 to 1999. Three of the companies involved have been fined a total of €273.783 million. The company InBev was exempted from fines because of its cooperation under the Commission's leniency program which lead to the uncovering of the cartel.

According to the findings of the Commission the four breweries coordinated prices and price increases of beer in The Netherlands, both in the on-trade segment of the market (hotels, restaurants and cafés) and the off-trade segment (supermarkets and private label beer). In the on-trade market segment the brewers coordinated the rebates granted to pubs and bars using the "sliding scale" and in so doing removed the main element of pricing. First estimates suggest that the total damage caused by the cartel amounts to several 100 million euro. 

In the case of the Dutch beer cartel the affected persons face the typical case of damage spreading. Damages might emerge on every step of the sales chain including beverage markets, grocery stores, bars, restaurants and the end-consumers. The allocation of the individual damage is complex as the price increases caused by the cartel affected not only the first sales level but partially have been handed over to the end-consumers (see Legal damage determination).