The French Competition Authority carried out on May 11 "unannounced visit and seizure operations at companies suspected of having implemented anti-competitive practices in the rail passenger transport sectors," according to a statement published Friday by the Authority.
According to our information, the SNCF would be in the viewfinder. The public company declined to comment on the subject, as did the Competition Authority, which is subject to an obligation of confidentiality in these proceedings.
On the side of tourism professionals, we are aware of an ongoing investigation. "Entreprises du Voyage is informed of the fact that the Autorité de la concurrence has been investigating for several months the functioning of competition in the sector of the distribution of train tickets in France," explains Jean-Pierre Mas, the president of this organization which brings together agencies and tour operators in France.
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And to add: "Entreprise du Voyage has been asked, like some of its members, to answer questions from the Authority." However, he does not know if the raids organized by the Competition Authority on May 11 are related to this long-term investigation.
This would not be the first investigation of the competition gendarme on the SNCF. In 2014, following a complaint filed by travel agencies, SNCF had made commitments to the Authority. It was a question of allowing agencies to compete "on equal terms" in the words of the Authority, Voyages-sncf.com, the online sales subsidiary of train tickets of the public company.
The goal: that all players can access the French railway giant's online sales tools. In December 2021, SNCF returned to the same authority to request a review of its commitments, in order to take into account technological developments and changes in travel agencies' habits.
