The pioneering regulation of Barcelona City Council that combats ghost supermarkets and macro-kitchens, dark stores and dark kitchens, whose activity is focused exclusively on the delivery of their products at home, has come up against the Catalan Competition Authority (ACCO). This autonomous body of the Generalitat has challenged the municipal use plan that prohibits the first businesses throughout the city and restricts the second, only allowing them to open in the Free Trade Zone, although with a maximum of one establishment within a radius of 400 meters. The ACCO considers that the measure reduces competition and causes unjustified discrimination between operators.
The main objectives of the use plan, which was approved on January 27 in the municipal plenary session with the votes of BComú and PSC (both then in the government) and ERC, are to protect local commerce, avoid the intensive use of public space by delivery drivers and noise and odor problems in the neighborhood.
“The plan goes beyond what is necessary and proportionate, restricts competition and violates the principles of good regulation and the European Services Directive,” argues the ACCO, which has filed a contentious administrative appeal against it before the Superior Court of Justice. of Catalonia (TSJC). “Thus,” he continues, “it contemplates measures that have not been duly justified, given that the City Council has not analyzed the impact on competition and the market, nor the need, nor the proportionality, nor the economic sustainability of the rule.”
The Barcelona regulations are, the organization continues, “especially restrictive with dark stores, prohibited throughout the municipality.” This veto, he warns, “contrasts with the data offered by the City Council in the document for drafting the standard, which demonstrates that these establishments cause less disturbance on public roads than, for example, restaurant establishments with a strong activity of delivery”. In the opinion of the ACCO, “the prohibition of this economic activity is, therefore, disproportionate and discriminatory.”
That these kitchens can only be established in the Free Trade Zone is, furthermore, this organization emphasizes, “a clear competitive disadvantage in the home delivery market.” In this sense, he regrets that other industrial zones have been ruled out and warns that “the environmental impact and traffic congestion, derived from the longer trips that these businesses will have to make,” have not been assessed either.
