Belgian Competition Authority Adopts Its First Settlement Decision In Supermarkets Cartel Case

On 22 June 2015, the College of Competition Prosecutors (Auditoraat / Auditorat) of the Belgian Competition Authority ("BCA") adopted its very first settlement decision in a cartel case involving 18 retailers and suppliers of drugstore, perfumery and hygiene products ("DPH").

The BCA found that retailers had indirectly coordinated price increases of specific DPH products in Belgium by exchanging information with other retailers via the relevant suppliers. The BCA considered this to be contrary to Article IV.1 of the Code of Economic Law and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.  According to the BCA, "the core of the infringement was at retail level, with suppliers acting as intermediaries and facilitators, each of them exclusively for their own products". The BCA found that no direct communication had taken place between retailers and that no communication whatsoever had occurred between suppliers.