French producers win battle against retailers 

The National Federation of Vegetables Producers in France won the lawsuit against the Carrefour retail group. A court in Caen decided that Interdis (member of the Carrefour group) has to pay the Federation a million euro as compensations and interest, to repair the prejudice caused between 2000 and 2001 by imposing a specific service contract. Similar „hidden taxes” exist in Romania and caused massive discontent.

The decision of the French court practically sanctions the off-invoice taxes practice, which impose to producers financial efforts that do not truly buy a service. Producers often have to sell their products below the production cost, because of their economic dependence on the retail chain. The Federation offered as evidence in Court 183 contracts worth over 3.6 million euro.