The mega-food fraud on mineral waters with the Vittel and Perrier brands – to which various environmental damages are added – ended with the plea bargain of a modest pecuniary sanction, between Nestlé Waters and the public prosecution. (1)
The Foodwatch association is not willing to accept a modest compensation and announces that it intends to continue a legal battle to obtain the protection that consumers truly deserve.
1) Vittel and Perrier, 15 years of mineral water fraud
Nestlé Waters deceived consumers around the world by selling as 'mineral water' – under the prestigious brands Vittel and Perrier – waters that had actually undergone illicit treatments with infrared radiation and carbon filters.
The crime of potential impact on public health was carried out for 15 years and allowed Nestlé Waters to make over €3 billion in illicit profits, as seen. (2)
The global colossus he was also accused of having carried out illegal drilling in the aquifers, in defiance of false promises of Corporate Social Responsibility (!).
2) Nestlé Waters settles lawsuit
The serious accusations were drowned – on 10 September 2024, before the Epinal Tribunal – in a 'judicial agreement of public interest' (convention judiciaire d'intérêt public, CJIP), that is to say the plea bargaining of a single financial penalty.
'The CJIP' moreover, as French jurists explain, 'It does not imply a declaration of guilt and has neither the nature nor the effects of a judgment of conviction.'. (3)
The Corporation he therefore agreed with the prosecution to:
– pay a fine of €2 million, within three months
– repair its ecological impact on two watercourses and restore some wetlands in the territory of Vittel and Contrexéville, under the supervision of the French Office for Biodiversity, in two years
– compensate some environmental protection associations, for a total amount of €516.800.
3) Foodwatch, the battle continues
Foodwatch dissociates itself from the other associations and rejects the proposal for compensation for damages.
'Money It does not buy our silence or extinguish our resolve. We refuse the check that would allow Nestlé Waters officials to walk away with total impunity.
Considering the seriousness of the crime of the facts and the unprecedented scale of bottled water fraud in France and around the world for decades, we want Nestlé Waters to be held accountable to deceived consumers and judged in an exemplary manner' (Ingrid Kragl, Foodwatch France, fraud expert).
4) Plea bargaining is illegal
The President of the Court Epinal had already been urged by Foodwatch to reject the plea bargain for the crimes relating to food fraud and public health risk, which instead must be dealt with in a specific and separate judicial investigation.
The Foodwatch Advocate, Me François Lafforgue, explains that:
- 'Foodwatch's complaint concerns several crimes foreseen and punished by both the public health code and the consumer code;
– such crimes, including fraud, cannot be the subject of a judicial agreement of public interest;
– plea bargaining may instead only concern crimes foreseen and punished by the environmental code'.
5) Food fraud, the necessary sanctions
The definition of a giga-fraud feeding by paying a sum of money more than 1000 times lower than the illicit profits clashes with the principles of effectiveness, deterrence and proportionality of the sanction established in Regulation (EU) 2017/625, adds the author (Dongo).
'Member States' are responsible for 'lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the provisions of this Regulation [Official Controls Regulation (EU) No 2017/625] and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. (…).
Member States ensure that financial penalties (…) committed through fraudulent or deceptive practices reflect, in accordance with national law, at least the economic benefit for the operator or, where appropriate, a percentage of the operator's turnover'. (5)
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Footnotes
(1) Eaux minerals: Nestlé Waters must pay a fine of 2 million euros for echapper in a trial. Liberation. 11.9.24 https://www.liberation.fr/economie/conso/eaux-minerales-nestle-waters-va-payer-une-amende-de-2-millions-deuros-pour-echapper-a-un-proces-20240910_DGDCXPLY4FDY3EVP5H3DP2JCFM/
(2) Dario Dongo. Nestlé, 15 years of fraud on French mineral water. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Affaire des eaux minérales: 2 million euros of fines for Nestlé Waters after the conclusion of a public interest judicial convention. Le club des juristes. 11.9.24 https://www.leclubdesjuristes.com/en-bref/affaire-des-eaux-minerales-2-millions-deuros-damende-pour-nestle-waters-apres-la-conclusion-dune-convention-judiciaire-dinteret-public-6850/
(4) Eaux traitées illégalement: foodwatch refuses l'argent de Nestlé Waters. Foodwatch. 9.9.24 https://www.foodwatch.org/fr/communiques-de-presse/2024/eaux-traitees-illegalement-foodwatch-refuse-largent-de-nestle-waters
(5) Regulation (EU) No 2017/625, Article 139 (Sanctions)
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
A professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic studies on food and has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
