BRUSSELS (AFP) - Europeans will be able to choose from a much wider array of fizzy drinks in bars and shops after Coca-Cola agreed to change its retail practices to close a five-year EU investigation, officials said.
The European Union's executive arm said it had virtually wrapped up a settlement to the dispute after Coca-Cola committed itself to end anti-competitive practices that shut out rival soft-drinks firms such as Pepsi.
EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, conducting one of his last big investigations before stepping down at the end of this month, said he personally was satisfied with the commitments made by the US drinks giant.
Other companies will now have about a month to respond to say whether they are happy with the deal. If so, the commitments will become binding on Coca-Cola on pain of fines.
"The commitments entered into by Coca-Cola will level the playing field in the carbonated soft-drinks markets in Europe," Monti said in a statement.
"Thanks to the commission's action, consumers will generally have more choice at cafes, pubs and shops and will, therefore, be in a position to choose on the basis of price and personal preferences rather than pick up a Coca-Cola product because it's the only one on offer," he said.
To assuage the European Commission's concerns, the US company agreed last month to change commercial agreements that required European retailers to give its brands the maximum visibility in their shops.
Under the full deal hammered out in talks Tuesday between Monti and Coca-Cola chief executive Neville Isdell, the company agreed to four main undertakings:
-- No more exclusivity arrangements. Retailers will be free to buy any fizzy soft drinks they like rather than being tied to a supply deal with Coca-Cola.
-- No target and growth rebates, which reward retailers for sticking to their purchasing deals with Coca-Cola.
-- No pushing weak Coca-Cola brands on top of strong ones. Retailers will be free to buy only best-selling Coca-Cola brands such as Coke or Fanta, rather than being forced also to buy weaker lines such as Sprite or Vanilla Coke.
-- Where the company provides a free cooler to a retailer, the retailer will be free to use 20 percent of the cooler for products from another fizzy drink maker.
Monti acknowledged that rivals such as Pepsi might yet object to the settlement, requiring his department to tweak the arrangements. But all going well, the deal should take final effect next spring.
"I can't say at the moment whether any improvements will be necessary. All I can say is that today's announcement results from five years of hard work by my department with Coca-Cola," he told a news conference.
The agreement covers Coca-Cola and three of its major bottlers, which together serve 70 percent of the European market for carbonated soft drinks.
The case was wrapped up using a new procedure in the EU's anti-competition armoury, under which a draft settlement enters into force one month after its publication in the official EU journal unless competitors object.
The Coca-Cola settlement is only the second time the procedure has been used after Monti last month clinched a deal on the sale of television rights to top football matches in Germany.
The commissioner defended his decision not to use the traditional procedure under which Coca-Cola could have faced fines for anti-competitive behaviour.
"It's a question of taking into account the consumer's interest. A lot of people drink Coke... we really are looking to the future here," he said.