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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 12.  Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings:

We routinely are involved in legal proceedings, claims and governmental inspections or investigations (“Legal Matters”) arising in the ordinary course of our business.

A compliant and ethical corporate culture, which includes adhering to laws and industry regulations in all jurisdictions in which we do business, is integral to our success. Accordingly, after we acquired Cadbury in February 2010 we began reviewing and adjusting, as needed, Cadbury’s operations in light of applicable standards as well as our policies and practices. We initially focused on such high priority areas as food safety, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and antitrust. Based upon Cadbury’s pre-acquisition policies and compliance programs and our post-acquisition reviews, our preliminary findings indicated that Cadbury’s overall state of compliance was sound. Nonetheless, through our reviews, we determined that in certain jurisdictions, including India, there appeared to be facts and circumstances warranting further investigation. We are continuing our investigations in certain jurisdictions, including in India, and we continue to cooperate with governmental authorities.

As we previously disclosed, on February 1, 2011, we received a subpoena from the SEC in connection with an investigation under the FCPA, primarily related to a facility in India that we acquired in the Cadbury acquisition. The subpoena primarily requests information regarding dealings with Indian governmental agencies and officials to obtain approvals related to the operation of that facility. We are continuing to cooperate with the U.S. and Indian governments in their investigations of these matters, including through preliminary meetings with the U.S. government to discuss potential conclusion of the investigation.

 

On February 28, 2013, Cadbury India Limited (now known as Mondelez India Foods Limited), a subsidiary of Mondelēz International, and other parties received a show cause notice from the Indian Department of Central Excise Authority (the “Excise Authority”). The notice calls upon the parties to demonstrate why the Excise Authority should not collect approximately $46 million of unpaid excise tax as well as approximately $46 million of penalties and interest related to production at the same Indian facility. Subsequently, the Excise Authority issued another show cause notice, dated March 3, 2014, on the same issue but covering the period February to December 2013, thereby adding approximately $20 million of unpaid excise tax as well as approximately $20 million of penalties and interest to the amount claimed by the Excise Authority. The latest notice includes an accruing claim for excise as finished products leave the facility on an ongoing basis. We believe that our decision to claim the excise tax benefit is valid and we are contesting the show cause notices through the administrative and judicial process.

In April 2013, the staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) advised us and Kraft Foods Group that it was investigating activities related to the trading of December 2011 wheat futures contracts that occurred prior to the Spin-Off of Kraft Foods Group. We are cooperating with the staff in its investigation. In March 2014, the staff advised us that they are prepared to recommend that the CFTC consider commencing a formal action. We are seeking to resolve this matter prior to any formal action being taken. It is not possible to predict the outcome of this matter; however, based on our Separation and Distribution Agreement with Kraft Foods Group dated as of September 27, 2012, we expect to predominantly bear any monetary penalties or other payments that the CFTC may impose.

While we cannot predict with certainty the results of Legal Matters in which we are currently involved, we do not expect that the ultimate costs to resolve any of these Legal Matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material effect on our financial results.

Third-Party Guarantees:

We enter into third-party guarantees primarily to cover the long-term obligations of our vendors. As part of these transactions, we guarantee that third parties will make contractual payments or achieve performance measures. At March 31, 2014, we had no material third-party guarantees recorded on our condensed consolidated balance sheet.