The European Commission fined International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. €15.9 million ($17 million) on Monday after finding that a senior employee deleted WhatsApp messages during an investigation into potential anti-competitive activity in the fragrance industry.
EU Fines IFF €15.9M for Deleting WhatsApp Messages : Details of the Fine
Enforcers discovered that messages had been deleted from the employee’s phone during an unannounced inspection at IFF’s facilities in March 2023. The inspection was part of an investigation into possible collusion in the supply of fragrances and fragrance ingredients.
Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s executive vice president in charge of competition policy, emphasized the importance of compliance with antitrust investigations.
“Companies that undergo an inspection must ensure that employees do not delete or manipulate business records,” Vestager said. “Today’s decision to fine IFF shows that we will not tolerate any action that could impact the effectiveness of our investigations and that we firmly pursue and sanction any such obstructions.”
Unprecedented Fine for Message Deletion
Enforcers stated that the employee deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged with a competitor about business-related topics after being informed of the investigation. This marks the first time the agency has issued a fine for deleting messages exchanged via a social media app on a mobile phone. The European Commission reduced IFF’s fine by 50% due to the company’s cooperation in recovering the deleted data.
IFF’s Response and Ongoing Investigation
IFF acknowledged the fine in a statement on Monday, agreeing to settle the commission’s charges of evidence destruction. The company stated that the employee’s actions were against “explicit instructions” from both its legal department and the commission.
