Competition Authority Launches Proceedings against Aldi

MTI-Hungary Today 2024.07.18.

The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has initiated proceedings against ALDI Hungary Bt. for allegedly violating the prohibition of unfair commercial practices, said the authority on Thursday.

According to the GVH’s suspicion, the refrigerators in the stores, marked with the signs “100% fresh and Hungarian meat in our permanent offer,” “100% fresh and Hungarian” (“100% friss és magyar”) and “With love, from Hungary” (“Hazait, szeretettel”), presumably did not contain products of Hungarian origin only. According to the GVH, the company is unlikely to have developed its internal procedures for its commercial communications on the basis of professional diligence.

Inside an Aldi store, in the background an advertising poster with the slogans concerned. Photo: Facebook/Agrárminisztérium

The GVH suspects that as of November 25, 2021, the company does not have a consistently applied internal control mechanism to ensure that consumers can only find products of Hungarian origin in the refrigerators labelled with the above claims.

The opening of competition proceedings does not imply a finding that the company has committed an infringement. The proceedings are aimed only at clarifying the facts and thereby proving the alleged infringement, the GVH said.

Photo: Facebook/Agrárminisztérium

The time allowed for the procedure is three months, which may be extended twice, each time for a maximum of two months, where justified. The GVH has cautioned companies that the characteristics of products can have a decisive influence on consumers’ decisions and that they should therefore only publish claims in their communications that they can fully and reasonably substantiate.

Fact

In early July, Lidl Magyarország Kereskedelmi Bt. (Lidl Hungary) has also been placed under competition supervision by the GVH because the company may have misled consumers with unfounded market quality claims, Hungary Today reported. The supermarket chain had used the slogan “Lidl: the champion of low prices” in its commercial communications since November last year. This was likely to convey the message to consumers that its product range was in fact the cheapest in general compared to all other supermarket chains in Hungary, said the authority.

Lidl Hungary claims that it acted in accordance with the law in the campaign, but will cooperate with the authority in the investigation.

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Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Aldi Magyarország