Sodexo and Edenred announced on Thursday that they would appeal to the Court of Cassation after this decision by the Paris Court of Appeal.
For the Paris Court of Appeal, the companies issuing restaurant vouchers were indeed guilty of anti-competitive practices: the sanctions imposed by the Competition Authority in 2019 were confirmed on Thursday November 16, with Sodexo and Edenred announcing that they would appeal in cassation.
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 common organization, the CRT (Central Securities Settlement) which is now closed.
Exchange of sensitive commercial information
Court of Appeal “confirms the decision by which the Competition Authority sanctioned these players in the meal voucher market for anti-competitive practices”, which are “of two types”, according to a press release Thursday. The first one “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 market in continued growth, to ensure the stability of the global position of each of them.
The second practice “consists of the establishment of conditions of membership of the CRT, which are non-objective, discriminatory and non-transparent, and measures intended to dissuade issuers from competing through innovation by launching individually into the issuance of restaurant vouchers dematerialized”. The Court of Appeal recalls that the CRT’s activity consisted of processing paper tickets received from restaurateurs and merchants and preparing their reimbursement on behalf of the issuers.
Edenred, which had been the most heavily sanctioned with a fine of 157 million euros, announced 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 he is accused”. Sodexo, which was 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.
The two other players, Natixis Intertitres (today called Bimpli) and Up, were fined 83 million euros and 45 million euros respectively. 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 pay”without specifying which one.