In 2012, the Competition Authority accused and fined 10 or so producer organisations, and 7 producer organisation associations in the French chicory sector, €3.6 million for fixing the minimum sale prices between 1995-2010. Two years later, the Paris Court of Appeal overruled this decision as it had not been established that the producer organisations had overstepped their legal rights to stabilise production prices, as stated in the Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) Common Market Organisation (CMO).
However, the Competition Authority refuses to acknowledge that agricultural objectives precede competition regulations. They are appealing the judgement in the European Court of Justice and the parties were summoned to court on the 31st January 2017.
The European Court of Justice will give its verdict in the spring. It will have to decide whether the accusations, that can be described as anti-competitive regarding the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, can be waived as they come under producer organisation missions within the CMO. If so, it will have to clearly show if the agreed minimum prices, managed volume on markets and strategical information exchanges practiced by the producer organisations and associations are within the objectives allowed by the EU.
Catherine Del Cont from Nantes University’s School of Law and Political Science explained back in 2015 that it is difficult to predict the Court of Justice’s position on the delicate matter, but that the decision will have a strong influence on the CAP’s future.