The catalytic activity of zeolite H-Beta during the Fries rearrangement of phenyl acetate (PA) was investigated. Experiments were carried out in a batch reactor. It is shown that the decline of activity of the catalyst is associated with inhibition by the phenolic product compounds (phenol and hydroxyacetophenons). The long-term deactivation is caused by coking. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.