French supermarket chain Carrefour was in court yesterday (22 May) at Evry facing a series of accusations concerning special offers on consumer goods, Champagne and foie gras.
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A court official today confirmed to just-food that the full judgement would be published on 23 June, but that no official document would be available until that date.
However, French press reports from the public hearing talked of fines totalling EUR4.8m (US$6.44m) for below cost selling and catalogue descriptions of consumer goods which were not available in sufficient quantity to meet demand. These stretched from an offer concerning Champagne in 2003 to an allegedly misleading description of foie gras in 2005.
The foie gras, it was alleged, was a shaped block product and not the more prestigious product described in the catalogue. The prosecution accused the multiple of not checking catalogue descriptions, even though it had the means to do so.
The procurator’s representative, Vanessa Bronstein, is understood to have pushed for the judgement to force Carrefour to post the full text of the ruling at the checkouts of its 213 stores.
