2023-11-16 14:20:18
For the Paris Court of Appeal, the companies issuing meal vouchers were indeed guilty of anti-competitive practices: the sanctions imposed by the Competition Authority in 2019 were confirmed on Thursday, with Sodexo and Edenred announcing that they would appeal to the Court of Cassation. .
415 million euros fine for “cartel”
In December 2019, the Competition Authority sentenced Sodexo, Edenred (issuer of Restaurant Tickets), Natixis Intertitres and Up (issuer of Chèque Déjeuner) to a fine of 415 million euros for “agreement”, as well as their organization common, the CRT (Securities Settlement Central) now closed (since February 2023). The court of appeal “confirms the decision by which the Competition Authority sanctioned these players in the restaurant voucher market for anti-competitive practices”, which are “of two types”, according to a press release on Thursday.
The first “consists of exchanges of sensitive commercial information, having lasted for several years, at a close pace, between the main competitors, having facilitated between them the adoption and implementation of lasting collusion consisting, on a continuously growing market, to ensure the stability of the global position of each of them. The second practice “consists of the establishment of conditions of membership in the CRT, which are non-objective, discriminatory and non-transparent, and measures intended to dissuade issuers from competing through innovation by launching individually into issuance of dematerialized restaurant vouchers”. The Court of Appeal recalls that the CRT’s activity consisted of processing paper titles received from restaurateurs and merchants and preparing their reimbursement on behalf of the issuers.
Cassation
Edenred, which had been the most heavily sanctioned with a fine of 157 million euros, announced to AFP that it was considering appealing to the Court of Cassation. The group, which has already paid this fine, “categorically refutes the two complaints with which it is accused and does not share the analysis of the Paris Court of Appeal, in particular its assessment of the competitive nature of the French meal voucher market” . Sodexo, which had been fined 126 million euros, a sum already paid, “contests this decision with the greatest firmness and has decided to appeal to the Court of Cassation”, according to a statement sent to AFP.
Sodexo “contributes positively to the country’s economic activity by bringing customers to restaurateurs and merchants and by allowing client companies to grant restaurant vouchers to their employees”, defends the company. The group specifies that its plan to split its meal voucher activity, called Pluxee, “is continuing with a target of listing in early 2024 on Euronext Paris”.
Compensation
The two other players, Natixis Intertitres (today called Bimpli) and Up, were fined 83 million euros and 45 million euros respectively. The court of appeal “confirms the financial sanctions, except with regard to an issuer for which their amount has been reduced due to financial difficulties affecting its ability to contribute”, without specifying which one. The decision of the Court of Appeal was awaited by restaurateurs: an action was launched by the employers’ union GHR to bring together traders who feel wronged by this agreement by registering their appeals on the secure indemnificationtr.fr platform.
“This illegal agreement could have resulted in abusive commissions taken from restaurants and businesses by issuers of meal vouchers, on each payment since 2002 and until today,” we can read on this platform. “The compensation could amount to thousands, or even tens of thousands of euros for each merchant depending on the duration and volume of meal vouchers concerned,” it is written. Edenred, which emphasizes that there was no agreement on prices, brushed aside the subject when presenting its quarterly results in October.
Meal vouchers, used by 5 million employees, should be subject to reform, in particular to accelerate their dematerialization. Bercy is also considering perpetuating the possibility of purchasing products that are not directly consumable in supermarkets with these titles, which is supposed to end in December 2023.
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