Translated material
The court supported the trading network "Europe" in a dispute with the Kursk OFAS in the case of collections from bread suppliers
The Arbitration Court of the Kursk Region overturned the decision and order of the Kursk OFAS, adopted in relation to Europe-5 LLC (a subsidiary of the Europa retail chain) in a case of discrimination against bread suppliers, reports the FAS Office for the Kursk Region.
It was previously reported that in March of this year, the antimonopoly agency revealed a violation of the trade law by the retail chain, which was expressed in the collection of funds, so-called “bonuses,” from a number of bread suppliers, while creating discriminatory conditions for the supply of goods to the stores of the Europe chain for other suppliers.
The reason for the investigation was an appeal from the Russian Guild of Bakers, which, in turn, received numerous complaints from bakeries about extortions from retail chains.
Antimonopoly officers found that during 2011, six bread suppliers, including large bakeries in the region (Zheleznogorsk Bread Factory CJSC, Kurskkhleb CJSC, Kurskkhleb JSC) paid for the services of Europe-5 for the so-called “supply optimization” bread to the stores of the "Europe" retail chain. It is reported that the “delivery optimization” services consisted of drawing up a recommended delivery schedule to “Europe” stores (the schedule is a list of “Europe” stores and the word “daily”).
“Such a recommendation schedule was expensive: for example, one of the bakeries paid for this service more than 5.6 million rubles per year, another - 9.2 million rubles, etc. In total, payment for services to optimize the supply of goods for 2011 cost to all bakeries in the amount of more than 18 million rubles,” the OFAS said in a statement.
It is reported that the process of supplying goods to the distribution network is regulated by the corresponding supply agreement between the distribution network and the supplier, and the delivery schedule is determined by the orders of the distribution network. At the same time, the message notes, there is no fixed price for these services.
"Bread factories simply pay the Europa-5 company a percentage of their turnover in the Europa trading network: 3%, 5% or 7%. For example, when supplying varieties of bread subsidized from the budget of the Kursk region - Seimsky, Darnitsky" “Europe-5 LLC receives “only” 3% of turnover, and when supplying other varieties - 5% or 7%,” the department notes
Thus, according to antimonopoly experts, the costs of the distribution network associated with the sale of its products are transferred to the supplier, which, in turn, leads to the fact that the supplier includes these costs in the cost of the goods supplied.
The FAS qualified this practice as a violation of antimonopoly legislation in the field of retail trade and ordered Europe-5 LLC to ensure normal competition conditions: establish economically reasonable prices for paid services, and also transfer the income received as a result of the violation to the federal budget.
"Europe-5", not agreeing with the decision and order of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, appealed them to the arbitration court. The court, having considered the case, took the side of the trading network and canceled the acts of the antimonopoly authority.
It is reported that the Kursk OFAS intends to challenge the decision of the Kursk Arbitration Court in the appellate instance.