Coca-Cola and its bottlers in Mexico have taken a legal battle over their marketing and sales practices to the country's federal courts, hoping to overturn a ruling earlier this year from regulators.
Mexico's antitrust commission in March found the companies guilty of abusing their dominant position in Coke's biggest market outside the US, and ordered them to suspend certain marketing and sales practices that gave them exclusive access to retailers. The commission did not impose a fine.
Now, Coke and about 80 of its bottling companies are filing appeals with local district courts questioning the antitrust commission's decision, according to a Coke spokesman, Rodrigo Calderon. "There's still a long legal process," he said.
The move had been expected. Mexico is the second biggest market for Coke after the US, and first in per-capita consumption of its products. The company has a 72 per cent share of the soft drink market there.
The investigation into the company's practices was opened in August 2000 in response to a complaint from PepsiCo and two local companies.