The LIDL Supermarket Chain has just appealed the judgment of the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Funchal, in that it ordered the Funchal City Council to hand over to the JPP a part of two processes that it had filed with the municipality.
The statement reads:
“The LIDL Supermarket Chain has just appealed the judgment of the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Funchal, in so far as it ordered the Funchal City Council to hand over to the JPP a part of two lawsuits that it had filed with this municipality.
LIDL’s assertions in its statement of appeal are a sharp attack on the JPP and the motives behind the party in the present case, for it was written therein without any hesitation that:
In other words, the content of the completed Requests for Prior Information and the pending PIPs is, by their nature, similar, therefore, if a third party such as the Respondent accesses that information, it may take undue advantage of it, because it takes advantage of LIDL’s strategy, in the organisation and division of the space, in the chosen location, in the constraints of the chosen location (because the PIPs were unfavorable), For example.
In the same way, if a third party such as the Respondent has access to that information, it may cause damage to LIDL, because it does not yet have any commercial unit operating in the Autonomous Region and the disclosure of such data to the market, at an embryonic and preparatory stage, may tarnish LIDL’s image, boycott the conclusion of definitive contracts, and so on.
It is, therefore, necessary to revoke the learned judgment appealed, but to replace it with a decision that, rejecting in its entirety the request of the Applicant, now Respondent, also refuses access to the PIPs concluded, in view of the reserved nature of the documentation contained therein.
It is, therefore, regrettable that the senseless behaviour of the JPP throughout this process has created the conviction in LIDL that that party is acting at the service of the other supermarket chains working in this Autonomous Region, creating an environment that benefits no one and harms everyone.
The JPP was well aware that, on the 2nd of November, through its lawyers, LIDL had submitted a request to the Funchal City Council, prohibiting this municipality, under penalty of civil and criminal liability, from handing over any elements of its municipal files to the representative of that party, so there was no need to create a very unpleasant situation with companies that want to invest in the Autonomous Region. and that does not benefit Madeiran consumers at all.
On the part of the Funchal City Council, the position has been and will always be the same since the beginning of this whole process: this city council delivers the elements of all LIDL municipal processes, provided that this company gives the necessary written authorisation; without the consent of that undertaking, that authority shall only deliver those documents to whom and to the extent that the Court so orders.
In these circumstances, the Funchal City Council will not intervene in the aforementioned appeal process, since the final decision is totally indifferent to it, since, in view of LIDL’s position, it will limit itself to complying with what is decided by the Court, since in that case, no civil or criminal liability can be imputed to it.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
