The Greek subsidiary of Dutch-based company ‘Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE)’ was slapped with a 1mln-euro fine by the Greek market auditing authorities for profiteering.
The Greek Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas, announced the fine on the large multinational company, which deals in coffee and tea, on Tuesday after an audit carried out by the state’s market watchdog, the Interagency Market Control Unit (DIMEA) revealed it had reportedly violated a relevant law aimed at clamping down on practices to gain excessive or unfair profit.
The Greek Ministry of Development has unleashed an unprecedented audit operation, having conducted over 20,600 inspections since the beginning of 2023, which resulted in fines amounting to €10.3 million.
The market watchdog continued comprehensive audits, as in November alone, more than 1,250 inspections were carried out, resulting in fines exceeding €5.5 million.
The Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas, warned that unfair speculation against Greek households would be dealt with accordingly, especially “under the current imported inflationary pressures”, he noted.
“The Greek government is the only one in Europe that has and still enforces a law against unfair profit. The continuous presence of audit mechanisms from the Ministry of Development in the market ensures compliance with legality, healthy competition, and, as demonstrated in practice, reduces prices on the shelves.”
Fines for other multinational companies
The latest hefty fine comes on the heels of another large financial penalty of €1,672,000 recently levied against Johnson & Johnson and Colgate.
The tough clamp down against multinational companies’ profiteering practices kicked off on November 2, when Greek authorities imposed the first two fines, each amounting to €1 million, on ‘PROCTER & GAMBLE HELLAS MONOPROSOPI E.P.E.’ and ‘ELAIS UNILEVER HELLAS AE.’
