Competition watchdogs have targeted Lieferando because of price clauses embedded in contracts with restaurants. The proceedings have now been discontinued because there is no sufficient evidence that these make it more difficult for other delivery services to enter the market.
The Federal Cartel Office has suspended proceedings against the food delivery service Lieferando until further notice due to price clauses embedded in contracts with restaurants. All in all, the competition authority currently has no sufficient evidence to suggest that the clause represents a serious obstacle to the market entry of other delivery services, said head of the authority Andreas Mundt.
Possible obstacle to competition
The background: The delivery service – the top dog in Germany according to the cartel office – requires restaurants to ensure that the prices charged by the Lieferando subsidiary, which is part of Just Eat Takeaway, correspond to the prices in the restaurant’s own sales channels. The competition authorities see such clauses as a possible obstacle to competition. This means that restaurants may lose the incentive to commission other brokerage platforms on more favorable terms. The Federal Court of Justice had confirmed the ban on a similar best price clause on the hotel platform Booking.com.
However, the market conditions for food deliveries are different than in the booking case, said Mundt. The market and business models surrounding food orders are in flux. Restaurants are increasingly taking advantage of new alternative offers and are sometimes commissioning several delivery services at the same time. “All in all, we currently have no sufficient evidence to suggest that the clause represents a thorough obstacle to the market entry of new platforms with differentiated offers,” said the head of the authority.
Discontinuation of proceedings
However, the discontinuation of the proceedings for discretionary reasons does not make any statement about the admissibility of the investigated best price clause under antitrust law, it was said. The cartel office will continue to monitor competition and take action if this appears necessary.
According to competition watchdogs, best price clauses often only appear to be advantageous for consumers. By preventing cheaper prices through other distribution channels, they can have a negative impact on competition between competing providers of online intermediation services and make it more difficult for new providers to enter the market.
