THE HAGUE, 19/04/07 - The European Commission is fining Dutch brewers Heineken, Grolsch, Bavaria a combined 274 million euros. They artificially kept beer prices high.

Heineken must pay the bulk - 219 million euros. Grolsch (32 million) and Bavaria (23 million) were also fined yesterday. The Dutch arm of Inbev of Belgium would have been fined 84 million but was cleared because it cooperated with the Commission investigation, which began in 2000.

The - Dutch - Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes found that the four brewers' agreed not to be active on each other's home markets. The anti-cartel investigation focused on the period from 1993 through 1996. Earlier, Belgian brewers were fined 91 million euros for a similar infringement.