Brussels Boost For Mars In Ice Cream Row With Unilever

Unilever has tried over the past two years to meet the European Commissions concerns by cutting the number of freezers it lends to retailers.

But the Commission believes the approach agreed by Unilever has not opened up the Irish market enough. Mars fears a new statement of objections from the Commission this week will postpone final resolution of the issue for at least two years.

It could be even later if Unilever takes the matter to the European Court of Justice. Unilever has continued to benefit from conduct which the EC has provisionally found to constitute an anti-competitive practice and an abuse of its dominant market position, Mars said in a document it circulated to Brussels officials, Unilever directors and other interested parties.

Frustrated by the slow progress, Mars sought in its paper to rekindle the controversy by reviewing court and Commission actions across Europe on Unilevers practices. There is quite a lot of misinformation and innuendo within it, a Unilever spokesman said of the paper.

For the Irish market, Unilever agreed two years ago to give a rebate to retailers who used their own freezers, to sell 1,750 of its freezers to small retailers and to offer them hire purchase terms. But the programme got off to a slow start.

Retailers werent keen to have the hassle of owning their own freezer, a spokesman said. We were alarmed so we gave away the freezers. The Commission is concerned, apparently, that virtually no retailers bought their freezers. Moreover, Mars claims Unilevers distribution penetration in the Irish market has risen from 92 to 96 per cent.