Ferrero named as the company behind EU ‘antitrust raids’
Rocher has delivered a major campaign for Ferrero for Christmas 2025. Pic: Ferrero
Ferrero is reported to be the company at the centre of European Commission unannounced antitrust inspections across two EU sites in a probe over established selling practices, writes Neill Barston.
The move by the EU, to what it said yesterday was an ‘unnamed company active in the chocolate sector’ comes amid concerns that it may have violated rules that prohibit either ‘cartels or restrictive business practices’ – with reports as per Reuters, that the confectionery firm if fully complying with the investigation.
According to the EU Commission, its latest raids centre on what it described as “possible market segmentation in the form of restrictions on the trade of goods between Member States in the Single Market and obstacles to multi-country purchases.”
As Confectionery Production has previously reported, such antitrust raids are not an unknown phenomenon for the confectionery sector, as seen in 2024, when Mondelez was forced to pay a reported figure of more than €337 million concerning allegations of restriction on selling products within other EU nations were said to have been breached.
The verdict on the manufacturer of major global brands including Toblerone, Oreo and Côte d’Or, Milka and Ritz, explored its business practices across Europe, and it was found to have made 22 trading infringements across the continent.
Regarding this latest case, as the EU Commission noted, unannounced inspections are a preliminary investigatory step into suspected anticompetitive practices. The fact that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the company is guilty of anticompetitive behaviour, nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself.
Ferrero itself has been widely praised previously for its adherence to environmental and general operating standards, including having previously emerged highly within the WWF scorecard on industry performance, making today’s confirmation seem notably unusual.
As the commission concluded, there is no legal deadline to complete inquiries into anticompetitive conduct. Their duration depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of each case, the extent to which the companies concerned cooperate with the Commission and the parties’ exercise of their rights of defence.
