The European Commission has confirmed that it is conducting unannounced inspections at the offices of two online food ordering and delivery companies located in two EU member states.
This move aims to determine whether the companies concerned have violated EU antitrust rules that strictly prohibit any "cartels and restrictive business practices".
The Commission did not disclose the names of the companies being inspected.
However, according to a Reuters report, the two companies are the Germany-based food delivery company Delivery Hero and its Spain-based subsidiary Glovo.
Delivery Hero and Glovo released statements confirming the raids.
Delivery Hero’s statement read: “We can confirm that the European Commission has conducted an inspection at our offices in Berlin and Barcelona.”
The latest investigation is being led by the European Commission’s officials in coordination with their counterparts from the two member nations’ competition authorities.
The current inspections are related to an investigation carried out by the Commission in July 2022, which accused Delivery Hero and Glovo of potential breaches of competition laws.
Initially, the investigation focused on alleged market allocations. The scope has now extended to include additional conduct in the form of possible “no-poach agreements and exchanges” of commercially sensitive information.
The Reuters report noted that the companies have recently been under the scrutiny of the regulatory bodies over agreements to avoid hiring each other’s staff or the “no-poach” deals prohibiting workers from providing services on rival platforms.
The European Commission’s media stated: “There is no legal deadline to complete inquiries into anticompetitive conduct. Their duration depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of each case, the extent to which the undertakings concerned co-operate with the Commission and the exercise of the rights of defence."
Delivery Hero was established in 2011 and operates in more than 70 countries.
In early 2022, Delivery Hero finalised a deal to secure an additional 39.4% stake in Glovo, a delivery app and q-commerce platform focusing on food.
