The Office for the Protection of Competition in the Czech Republic has issued a first-instance decision to reimpose fines on three meal voucher issuers, totaling over CZK 279 million. This decision follows a previous appeal by the Chairman in 2023, which required the Office to clarify the reasons for the fines. The original decision regarding the merits of the case has been upheld and is currently under review by the Regional Court in Brno.

The fines are distributed among the involved parties as follows: Pluxee Česká republika a.s. (formerly Sodexo Pass Česká republika a.s.) is fined CZK 132,271,000, Edenred CZ s.r.o. is fined CZK 101,940,000, and Up Česká republika s.r.o. is fined CZK 44,941,000. The decision is not final, and the parties have the right to appeal to the Chairman of the Office.

Between May 2004 and June 2018, the Office found that these companies coordinated their commercial terms with retail chains regarding the acceptance of meal vouchers. This coordination constituted a concerted practice that led to a prohibited agreement, distorting competition in the market for the issuance, sale, and repurchase of paper meal vouchers and related services in the Czech Republic. The anti-competitive conduct was also deemed capable of affecting trade among EU Member States, thus violating both national and EU competition laws.