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Competition supervision procedure initiated in the melon cartel case

The Gazdasági Versenyhivatal (GVH - Hungarian Competition Authority) has initiated a competition supervision procedure against ALDI Magyarország Élelmiszer Bt., Auchan Magyarország Kft., CBA Kereskedelmi Kft., Lidl Magyarország Kereskedelmi Bt., SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft., TESCO-GLOBAL Áruházak Zrt., Magyar Dinnye Szövetség Közhasznú Egyesület (Hungarian Melon Non-Profit Association) and Magyar Zöldség-Gyümölcs Szakmaközi Szervezet és Terméktanács (Hungarian Interprofessional Organisation for Fruit and Vegetable ) for allegedly infringing the prohibition against restrictive agreements.

The GVH suspects that ALDI Magyarország Élelmiszer Bt., Auchan Magyarország Kft., CBA Kereskedelmi Kft., Lidl Magyarország Kereskedelmi Bt., SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft., TESCO-GLOBAL Áruházak Zrt., Magyar Dinnye Szövetség Közhasznú Egyesület and Magyar Zöldség-Gyümölcs Szakmaközi Szervezet és Terméktanács agreed, on the one hand, on the applicable prices from mid-July 2012 regarding melon produced in Hungary and, on the other hand, that they would also not distribute (or only by applying discriminating prices) melon that was produced outside of Hungary.

The GVH suspects that the undertakings under investigation have presumably violated, by this conduct, Article 11 of the Hungarian Competition Act with regard to the prohibition of restrictive agreements, and moreover, Article 101 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union.

The initiation of the competition supervision proceeding does not mean that the undertakings in question have actually committed the infringement. The proceeding seeks to clarify the facts and to thus prove that the presumed infringement has been committed. According to the Act these proceedings must be closed within 6 months, however, this time limit can be extended two times by a further 6 months, depending on the complexity of the case.

Case number: Vj-62/2012

Budapest, 30 August 2012

Hungarian Competition Authority

Further information:
Katalin GONDOLOVICS
presswoman
Mail: 1054 Budapest, V. ker. Alkotmány u.5.
Postal address: 1245 Budapest, 5. POB 1036
Tel: (+36-1) 472-8902
Email: press@gvh.hu
http://www.gvh.hu