联邦贸易委员会已就歧视中小企业的指控与南方葡萄酒烈酒公司达成和解。
The Federal Trade Commission has settled with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits over claims of discrimination against small businesses.
迪安·德宾 联邦贸易委员会周五表示，已与美国最大的葡萄酒和烈酒分销商达成和解，此前该机构指控该公司歧视中小型和独立企业。
DEE-ANN DURBIN The Federal Trade Commission said Friday it settled with the largest U.S. distributor of wines and spirits over claims that it was discriminating against small and independent businesses.
该机构于2024年12月起诉南方葡萄酒烈酒公司，原因是发现该公司没有给小型商店提供给大型商店（如Total Wine、沃尔玛和克罗格）的折扣和回扣，即使这些商店相距仅几个街区。
The agency sued Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits in December 2024 after finding it didn’t give smaller stores access to the discounts and rebates it offered larger stores like Total Wine, Walmart and Kroger, even when stores were within a few blocks of each other.
联邦贸易委员会的起诉依据是很少被执行的1936年《罗宾逊-帕特曼法案》，该法案允许批量折扣，但前提是卖方能证明通过批量销售实现了真正的成本效率。
The FTC’s case was based on the rarely enforced 1936 Robinson-Patman Act, which permits volume discounts but only if a seller can demonstrate that it’s achieving real cost efficiencies by selling in bulk.
根据和解协议，如果南方葡萄酒烈酒公司在向附近的大型商店销售同类产品时存在重大或反复的价格歧视，必须向小型零售商支付赔偿。联邦贸易委员会表示，一名独立监督员将监督和解执行六年。南方葡萄酒烈酒公司必须每半年向监督员提供详细记录。
Under the settlement agreement, Southern Glazer’s must pay the smaller retailer if it engages in significant or recurring price discrimination when it sells the same products to a larger store nearby. An independent monitor will oversee the settlement for six years, the FTC said. Southern Glazer’s must provide the monitor with detailed records twice a year.
根据联邦贸易委员会的数据，南方葡萄酒烈酒公司是美国最大的私营公司之一，2023年通过向零售客户销售葡萄酒和烈酒实现了260亿美元的收入。美国每三瓶葡萄酒和烈酒中就有一瓶由该公司分销。
Southern Glazer’s is one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S. and generated $26 billion in revenue from wine and spirits sales to retail customers in 2023, according to the FTC. It distributes one out of every three bottles of wine and spirits in the U.S.
南方葡萄酒烈酒公司周五表示，很高兴达成和解协议，在不进行审判、不承认过错的情况下解决了此案。
Southern Glazer’s said Friday it was pleased to reach a settlement agreement that resolved the case without a trial or an admission of wrongdoing.
“Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits 没有违反——也正在违反——罗宾逊-帕特曼法案，”Southern Glazer’s 首席法律与合规官 Alan Greenspan 在声明中表示。“拟议令并未完全禁止 Southern Glazer’s 从事任何特定商业活动，我们预计业务或定价做法不会发生重大变化。”和解涵盖 Southern Glazer’s 在 26 个州向五大连锁零售商的销售。FTC 的诉讼最初指控在 33 个州存在歧视，但后续调查未能显示其中 7 个州存在此类行为。
“Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits did not violate—and is not violating—the Robinson-Patman Act,” Alan Greenspan, Southern Glazer’s chief legal and compliance officer, said in a statement. “The proposed order does not outright prohibit Southern Glazer’s from engaging in any particular business activity, and we do not anticipate material changes to our business or pricing practices.”The settlement covers Southern Glazer’s sales to the five largest chain retailers in 26 states. The FTC’s lawsuit originally alleged discrimination in 33 states, but a subsequent investigation failed to show that it occurred in seven of them.
该令涵盖的州包括：阿拉斯加、亚利桑那、阿肯色、加利福尼亚、科罗拉多、特拉华、佛罗里达、夏威夷、伊利诺伊、印第安纳、堪萨斯、肯塔基、路易斯安那、马里兰、明尼苏达、密苏里、内布拉斯加、内华达、新墨西哥、纽约、北达科他、俄克拉荷马、南卡罗来纳、田纳西、德克萨斯和华盛顿。FTC 在前总统乔·拜登政府末期提起了诉讼。
The states covered by the order are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. The FTC filed the lawsuit during the waning days of former President Joe Biden’s administration.
安德鲁·弗格森于 2025 年 1 月唐纳德·特朗普总统就职当天被任命为 FTC 主席，他在周五表示，他最初并不支持针对 Southern Glazer’s 的诉讼。
Andrew Ferguson who was named FTC chairman on the day President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, said Friday that he didn’t initially support the lawsuit against Southern Glazer’s.
在声明中，弗格森表示，他认为 Southern Glazer’s 能够证明大多数价格差异是由向不同零售商供货的成本差异所证明合理的。
In a statement, Ferguson said he believed Southern Glazer’s could prove that most of the price differences were justified by differences in the costs of supplying various retailers.
但该案在联邦法院于 2025 年 4 月驳回 Southern Glazer’s 的撤诉动议后继续进行。弗格森表示，和解是对各方最有利的结果。
But the case proceeded after a federal court denied Southern Glazer’s attempt to dismiss it in April 2025. Ferguson said the settlement was the best outcome for all parties.
“该令具有自我校准功能：仅当监督员发现独立零售商实际支付的价格高于竞争连锁店时，Southern 才需付款，”弗格森说。“如果 Southern 遵守法律，其合规成本将很低。”
“The order is self-calibrating: Southern pays only where a monitor finds that an independent retailer actually paid more than a competing chain,” Ferguson said. “If Southern obeys the law, its compliance costs are low.”