Latin Lawyer - Mexico restricts brewer´s exclusive contracts

Mexico´s Federal Competition Commission (CFC) has imposed conditions on the country´s two major breweries´exclusive contracts with retailers to open the country´s beer market to more producers. The decision establishes a penalty equal to 8% of annual Mexican turnover for failure to meet the CFC´s conditions. Grupo Modelo, recently purchased by Anheuser Busch InBev, and Heineken owned Cuahtémoc Moctezuma control more than 95% of the Mexican beer market, including both open container sales by restaurants, bars and taverns and closed container sales by grocery and convenience stores.