Research into price agreements for mouth masks in supermarkets…

Supermarket chain Carrefour Belgium mentioned the investigation “into the contacts between different distributors regarding the sale of protective masks to the public and the Belgian government” in its annual report. It is not clear which other supermarkets are involved.

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Supermarket chain Carrefour Belgium mentioned the investigation “into the contacts between different distributors regarding the sale of protective masks to the public and the Belgian government” in its annual report. It is not clear which other supermarkets are involved.

The Competition Authority confirms that the investigation is still ongoing. It started in June last year, shortly after supermarkets started selling face masks. “We saw things that seemed a bit strange to us,” it sounds. The prices of the masks in particular stood out. There was a suspicion that a joint decision was made “to set the price at a certain level”. Such price fixing between competitors is prohibited by law.

The Competition Authority has asked the companies involved questions. Suspicions were eventually strong enough to open a formal investigation. That may take a few more months. Supermarket chain Delhaize responds that last year it also received questions from the Competition Authority about possible price agreements. “We cooperated in the investigation and have not heard anything since a year,” said spokesman Roel Dekelver. “We have independent pricing on every product, not just mouth masks.”

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