Abstract

In 2017, following a paper by Ashenfelter and Krueger, no-poaching clauses (NPCs) in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry rose to the centre of the US antitrust debate. Several papers have since estimated a significant negative impact of NPCs on wages. The US NPC debate has yet to reach the EU, mainly due to a lack of evidence on NPC existence. A “civic accessµ made it possible to uncover seven Italian franchise agreements entered into by a major international franchisor in the QSR industry, six of which clearly enforce NPCs. This article discusses the main features of such agreements, and analyse the differences between EU and US competition case law and labour markets. NPC removal would raise wages in the EU more than it did in the USA, and this article proposes three ways to start the process.