The court has halved the fine imposed on ‘Švyturys-Utenos alus’ for a breach of competition law, reducing it to €0.4 million

The brewery “Švyturys-Utenos alus” is to pay a fine that is 50 per cent lower – €405,400 – which the Competition Council had imposed on the company for obstructing an investigation into possible price-fixing with retailers, the court has finally ruled. 

On 21 October, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (LVAT) partially upheld the company’s appeal on 21 October and, taking into account changes in the legal framework, further reduced the fine imposed on the company, the Council announced. 

According to the Council, the LVAT found that the court of first instance, having reduced the company’s fine by 40 per cent – from 810.79 thousand to 486.47 thousand euros – had, in essence, correctly assessed the evidence gathered.

However, taking into account the amended regulations, under which the base fine calculated for offenders after the first stage must be reduced to 50 per cent of the maximum fine, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania decided to reduce the fine imposed on the company to 405,400 euros. 

As reported by BNS, in December 2024 the Regional Administrative Court ruled that the Council had rightly determined that ‘Švyturys-Utenos alus’ had breached the Competition Act by obstructing an investigation into the possible collusion on product sales prices.

The court then reduced the fine imposed by the Council by 40 per cent to 486,500 euros, as no aggravating circumstances were identified during the investigation and the infringement was therefore not particularly serious. 

At the time, the Council stated that it had already reduced the penalty after the company admitted to obstructing officials in their investigation. 

In April 2023, the Council launched an investigation following suspicions that “Švyturys-Utenos alus” had, together with three retail chains, potentially coordinated product prices in 2021–2022. Officials inspected the company’s premises and, amongst other things, examined employees’ email correspondence. 

The Council stated that the company had destroyed information and obstructed officials in gathering evidence.

In December 2023, the Competition Council imposed a fine of 810,800 euros on the company for the infringement. The Council informed BNS that the investigation is still ongoing.