Because of suspicions of antitrust violations, the EU Commission is carrying out searches in the offices of the food delivery service Delivery Hero. The locations in Barcelona and Berlin are affected.
The EU Commission is once again investigating the food delivery service Delivery Hero because of suspected antitrust violations. The Commission said it had carried out unannounced inspections of delivery service companies in two Member States. The names of the affected companies were not mentioned. Delivery Hero confirmed that this was about its own locations in Berlin and Barcelona. The company is cooperating fully with the authorities.
The Spanish subsidiary Glovo also confirmed that it had been visited by EU officials. On which day, at which other companies and to what extent the current inspections were carried out remained unclear today. EU investigators had already searched the offices of delivery services in July 2022. Delivery Hero and its Spanish subsidiary Glovo had also confirmed the searches at that time.
Investigations were expanded
The antitrust authorities are investigating suspicions of prohibited agreements on market sharing. The investigations have also been expanded to include the alleged exchange of information relevant to competition and suspected agreements on non-solicitation agreements for employees, according to the EU Commission’s announcement.
Non-solicitation bans between employers restrict free competition because, on the one hand, employees do not receive the best possible conditions for their performance on the labor market that a free market would offer. Competition between employers helps employees to improve their own working conditions by possibly providing higher wages or better additional benefits.
Non-solicitation clauses are problematic for companies because they can prevent them from being able to recruit the employees they need with better conditions if necessary.
No conclusions can be drawn about actual practices
According to the competition authorities, unannounced inspections are a first step towards clarifying suspected anti-competitive practices. The Commission and Delivery Hero pointed out that the inspections at the sites did not yet allow any conclusions to be drawn as to whether the company had actually engaged in such practices. Delivery Hero is based in Berlin. However, the company does not operate its own delivery service in Germany.
For violations of competition law, companies risk a fine that may not exceed ten percent of the company’s annual turnover. The percentage depends on the severity of the violation. According to the EU Commission’s idea, a fine ultimately has preventive purposes and should therefore achieve two things: punish and deter.