Retail market for supermarket products (distribution market).

Decision on the ex officio investigation conducted by the HCC’s Directorate-General for Competition (DGC) into the wholesale and/or retail for supermarket goods (distribution market) and/or supply market to determine whether the conditions for application of the provisions of Article 1 of L. 3959/2011 and/or Article 101 TFEU are met, in the context of a vertical agreement concerning geographical market allocation, following the Settlement proposal submitted by “EL.OM.A.S. GREEK SUPERMARKET BUYING ALLIANCE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY” (ELOMAS).

Article 29A of Law 3959/2011 and para. 39 of the HCC Plenary Decision No. 790/2022

Operative part of the Decision

The HCC, in Plenary sitting, unanimously decides by open vote, as follows:

Finds that ELOMAS has infringed Articles 1 of Law 3959/2011 and 101 TFEU due to its decision concerning market allocation among its members which was practically implemented as briefly described in the context of the Settlement Procedure.

Orders ELOMAS to refrain in the future from the infringements of Articles 1 of Law 3959/2011 and 101 TFEU found.

“EL.OM.A.S. GREEK SUPERMARKET BUYING ALLIANCE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY” (ELOMAS)

The evidence available demonstrates that ΕLOMAS has received a series of written complaints from certain of its members demanding that retail stores should not operate in the same geographical area as other members of the alliance. The complaints invoked a general principle of the alliance set out in a decision of its General Assembly according to which its members should refrain from the opening of a store within a specific geographical distance, namely 1000 meters in areas outside Athens and Thessaloniki and 300 meters inside Athens and Thessaloniki, where retail stores of other members of the alliance were already active.

In view of the evidence in the case file as well as the Settlement Proposal submitted show that ELOMAS adopted a decision on market allocation among its members, in breach of Articles 1 of Law 3959/2011 and 101 TFEU.