The office claims that Auchan had unilaterally charged about three-quarters of its non-food suppliers the fee from 2006-2014.

GVH said it considered Auchanʼs continuation of the practice even after the Hungarian unit of Spar was cited for a similar offence in June 2012 as an aggravating factor. GVH considered it a mitigating factor that approximately 44% of Auchanʼs suppliers were “not vulnerable market players”.