BRUSSELS - The European Commission intends to groom certain rules of competition in distribution, to reflect the growing influence of major supermarket chains and the rise of online commerce, "she said Tuesday.
Since June 2000, companies with less than 30% market share in a given sector in the EU no longer need to apply for a green light from Brussels for their agreements with distributors.
target measure among others at the time the Brewers and the oil companies passing exclusive distribution agreements with taverns or gas stations, and sought to relieve services competition by avoiding consideration of the agreements of limited scope.
It expires May 31, 2010, however. Therefore, the Commission has launched a public consultation on Tuesday renewed his until 2020 with some modifications.
"The Commission considers that these rules work satisfactorily on the whole and they should not be fundamentally altered," a statement said.
Brussels wants, however, take account of "recent market trends, including increased buying power of supermarkets and the evolution of online sales on the Internet."
In a draft text, Commission added an additional condition for such a distribution agreement is exempt from review: not only the supplier but also the distributor should not have a market share of over 30%.
The growing power of Carrefour, Auchan and other supermarket chains in terms of pricing is regularly criticized in the EU.
Last year, MEPs had even asked the Commission to investigate the concentration of the retail industry, accusing a handful of players from abusing their buying power to compel their suppliers to cut their prices.
The public consultation is open until 28 September. Then Brussels specify its proposals.
AFP
0 comments:
Post a Comment