Spain’s competition authority (CNMC) has said it is going to take no acton against Dia and Eroski for entering into a purchasing alliance last year.
Both retailers were reported to the CNMC by FIAB and Promarca last November, over a potential breach of the competition defence law.
Specifically, they deemed that the alliance between both retailers would facilitate ‘price fixing, limitation of investments for innovation or promotion, imposition of similar conditions for different services and subordination of contracts entered into with them to the acceptance of payments and business terms which are not in line with the supply agreements with each distributor’.
Following its analysis, the CNMC has ruled that the power of negotiation on the part of suppliers that deal with Dia and Eroski ‘remains strong enough to counterbalance the purchasing power’ of both retailers.
The CNMC also said that while ‘it is not aware of similar agreements in Spain, a similar network of agreements has developed in France among the six main operators in the market’.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
