RETAIL: SALE OF CZECH AND SLOVAK PARTS OF CARREFOUR REFERRED TO SLOVAK MERGER AUTHORITY.

In a statement issued on December 23, the Commission found that the proposed purchase affects competition in three distinct markets within the Slovak Republic and which do not form a substantial part of the EU's Single Market. Those aspects of the transaction will be examined by the Slovak competition authority under national law. At the same time, the Commission approved the transaction as far as the Czech marker was concerned because it concluded that the deal would not significantly impede competition in the Czech retailing sector.

Tesco is the largest food and non-food retailed in the UK and has over 2,300 stores worldwide. The company owns and runs 31 stores in Slovakia and 27 stores in the Czech Republic. Carrefour is also a food and non-food retailer with more than 11,000 stores worldwide. It operates 11 large stores in the Czech Republic and 4 large stores in Slovakia.

The Anti-monopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, in its request for the deal to be referred to the national authority, claimed that the transaction affected competition in the market for the retail sale of daily consumer goods in supermarkets and hypermarkets in three local markets in the cities of Bratislava, Kouice and eilina. The Slovak competition authority considers that these markets do not constitute a substantial part of the Common Market.

The Commissions investigation indicated that both in the Czech and Slovak Republics the product market could be defined in line with previous practice as the retail sale of daily consumer goods in...