Antitrust initiates investigation into Edenred meal vouchers
Investigations by the Competition Authority aim to establish a possible abuse of a dominant position in the national market for the provision of canteen replacement services through meal vouchers. Officials of the Authority, with the help of the special Antitrust Nucleus of the Guardia di Finanza, carried out inspections at the offices of Edenred Italia Srl as well as at the offices of the other main meal voucher issuing companies and some providers
The Authority for Competition and the Market has opened an investigation against Edenred for an alleged abuse of a dominant position in the national market for the provision of canteen replacement services through meal vouchers. This was reported by the same Antitrust Authority in a note, explaining that "after the introduction of the regulatory limit to the commissions applicable by issuing companies to affiliated merchants for the reimbursement of meal vouchers, Edenred allegedly implemented a complex strategy to transfer wholly unjustified charges onto the operators of large-scale organised distribution".
Penalising conditions for large-scale distribution
In particular, the company, according to the Authority, 'would have unilaterally imposed a reorganisation of the way in which electronic meal vouchers were accepted, eliminating direct integration between large-scale distribution cash systems and its own authorisation platforms, imposing the use of indirect interconnection systems provided by third-party providers and thus increasing costs for large-scale distribution. Edenred also allegedly imposed other penalising conditions such as, for example, a lengthening of the reimbursement time for meal vouchers'.
"The greater operational complexity and increased costs for large-scale distribution may be reflected in higher charges for consumers and affect the proper functioning of the market," underlines the Authority, which yesterday, with the help of the special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, carried out "inspections at the offices of Edenred Italia S.r.l. as well as at the offices of the other main companies issuing meal vouchers and some providers, considered to be in possession of elements useful for the investigation.
Investigations by the Yellow Flames
Yesterday, the Authority's officials, with the help of the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, carried out inspections at the offices of Edenred Italia Srl as well as at the offices of the other main meal voucher issuing companies and of some providers, who were deemed to be in possession of elements useful for the investigation.
The investigation against Edenred Italia and its parent company Edenred SE aims to establish a possible abuse of a dominant position in the national market for the provision of meal vouchers as meal replacement services, in violation of Article 102 TFEU.
