French Competition Watchdog Makes Tesco, Carrefour Partnership Commitments Binding

By Mauro Orru

The French competition authority said Thursday that commitments by Tesco PLC and Carrefour SA--excluding certain products from their partnership, limiting their cooperation for some product groups, and giving small and medium enterprises the chance to bid for tenders--are now binding.

The U.K.'s largest grocer by market share agreed in 2018 to partner with the French grocer for the supply of own-brand label products. The partnership initially covered more than 130 product families, the authority said.

However, the French competition watchdog subsequently launched an investigation, raising concerns that the partnership could reduce the ability of some enterprises to invest and innovate, potentially reducing their incentive to stay in the market.

To allay competition concerns, Tesco and Carrefour in October 2020 made commitments to enable smaller suppliers to bid for tenders, exclude agricultural products mainly bought from French and European producers, and limit their cooperation for eight product categories to a volume corresponding to 15% of market share per product family for Carrefour.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 17, 2020 07:07 ET (12:07 GMT)

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