The Belgian Brussels Court of Appeal rejects a supermarket’s request to suspend a merger between two of its rivals due to gun jumping (Carrefour / Intermarché / Mestdagh)

Introduction On 23 December 2022, the Brussels Court of Appeal (the Market Court) rejected Carrefour Belgium's application for the suspension of the Belgian Competition Authority's (BCA's) decision of 9 November 2022, which authorised the concentration between Intermarché AB (ITM) and Mestdagh. The BCA had cleared the concentration between ITM and Mestdagh in the first phase, deciding that there were no serious doubts about the concentration's admissibility. Carrefour filed for both the suspension and the annulment of the BCA's decision based on article IV.90 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law (CEL) and applied for interim measures in accordance with article 19 of the Belgian Judicial Code. Carrefour argued, among other things, that the termination of the franchise agreement between