EU antitrust regulators carried out another series of raids on two online food delivery companies headquartered within the bloc.
The Commission has not identified the companies involved, but the move follows unannounced EU inspections in July 2022 – which reportedly took place at the offices of Spain’s Glovo and Germany’s Delivery Hero. Both companies later confirmed the inspections.
Last year, the EU said its measures were linked to concerns about potential violations of competition laws against cartel formation and other restrictive business practices. The latest inspections are a continuation of a 2022 investigation, according to the commission, which said the scope of the investigation had expanded.
“The scope of the investigation, which initially included alleged market allocations, has now been expanded to include additional conduct in the form of alleged no-poaching agreements and the exchange of commercially sensitive information,” she said in a statement. press release.
Glovo and its parent company Delivery Hero have been contacted for comment.
Founded in 2011, Berlin-based Delivery Hero now has operations in more than 70 countries around the world – operating under a number of different food delivery and express commerce brands, including several acquired by acquisition. The latter includes Barcelona-based Glovo, a delivery app and express commerce platform with a focus on food, which was founded in 2014 but joined Delivery Hero at the end of 2021.
While this is the second batch of unannounced inspections of the two food delivery companies, the Commission’s public relations stresses that such raids are “an initial step towards investigating suspected anti-competitive practices.” “The fact that the Commission is conducting these inspections does not mean that companies are guilty of anti-competitive behavior and does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself,” he adds.
There is no specific legal deadline for completing investigations into anticompetitive conduct. Therefore, it is unclear when the investigation might end, nor what conclusion it might reach. Although it is worth noting that the committee has expanded the scope of what it is looking at.
The European Union administers a Leniency programme For offending companies that choose to cooperate with cartel investigations. It also provides a Whistleblower tool Where individuals and companies can report antitrust violations on an anonymous basis.