Billa and Julius Meinl hit with record fine for squeezing suppliers

The Billa and Julius Meinl supermarket chains have been hit with a record fine by the Czech Office for the Protection of Economic Competition. The retail giants have been ordered to pay a combined total of 43.35 million Czech crowns or just over two million dollars for agreeing to adopt a common approach to their suppliers in order to keep prices down. The decision has prompted calls from suppliers' organisations for even tougher laws to be introduced to prevent large retailers in the Czech Republic from abusing their economic power to put unfair pressure on suppliers to reduce costs.