the essential
The Competition Authority imposed 611 million euros in fines on 12 manufacturers and distributors for collusion on prices in household appliances. They are accused of an agreement to reduce competition and maintain high prices.
Boulanger and Darty distributors. The manufacturers BSH, Candy Hoover, Eberhardt, Electrolux, LG, Miele, SEB, Smeg, Whirlpool and again Whirlpool as successor to Indesit. These 12 manufacturers and distributors will have to pay 611 million fines in total for colluding to maintain high sales prices between February 2007 and December 2014.
The objective of these agreements: “to reduce competition, in particular that exerted by online distributors, and to maintain high sales prices for consumers”, specifies the Competition Authority.
A coded language for price instructions
What strategies were put in place? They ranged from banning the sale of certain products on the internet to the communication of “recommended retail prices” by manufacturers with “coded language to hide the price instructions”, followed by “monitoring” to ensure that distributors respected them. Distributors exclusively active on the internet claimed to have been discriminated against if they did not have physical stores.
A predominant role for Darty and Boulanger
“Traditional distributors, including the two main ones, Darty and Boulanger, fully participated in these agreements,” underlines the Competition Authority, emphasizing the “weight” of the two behemoths which sought to ensure that “the products that they were selling would not find themselves significantly cheaper elsewhere, particularly online.”
Manufacturers will appeal
If Fnac-Darty, which must pay a fine of 109 million, does not intend to contest the fine, Boulanger and SEB will appeal and refer the matter to the Paris Court of Appeal. The manufacturer SEB will have to pay 189.5 million and Boulanger 84.35 million euros. SEB rejects “any allegation that its practices did not comply with competition rules”.
A first sanction, totaling 189 million euros, was imposed in 2018 in the same case against six of the manufacturers affected by Thursday’s decision.
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