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Autorité de la concurrence rejects complaint against Carrefour

On 4 March 2010, the French Competition Authority (Autorité de la concurrence) published a decision rejecting a complaint lodged by SEFAG, a syndicate of grocery retailers, against the Carrefour Group for abuse of economic dependence. SEFAG claimed that Carrefour Group locked the franchisees into long term relationships using different contracts and constrained their commercial freedom, in particular through single and retail price maintenance clauses.

CRA assisted Carrefour in the proceeding before the Autorité by analyzing in detail the competitive effects of the vertical restraints and the efficiency gains they achieved. The CRA team was composed of Laurent Flochel and Thibaud Vergé before the latter became Chief Economist of the Autorité.

See the Autorité de la concurrence's Decision for further details.

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