SUMMARY :

Today, the European Commission has imposed fines totalling €157 million on luxury fashion brands Gucci, Chloé and Loewe for engaging in anticompetitive resale price maintenance, restricting their retailers’ ability to set their own prices, discount levels, and timing of sales.

‍

MORE INFORMATION:

The Commission's investigation revealed that these three fashion companies engaged in a practice called resale price maintenance (‘RPM'). They restricted the ability of both their online and brick-and-mortar retailers, which are independent resellers, to set their own retail prices for almost the entire range of products designed and sold by Gucci, Chloé and Loewe under their respective brand names, including apparel, leather goods, shoes and fashion accessories. The infringements covered the whole territory of the European Economic Area (‘EEA').

The Commission’s investigation revealed that the three brands imposed restrictions on their retailers, by requiring them not to deviate from:

• Recommended retail prices
• Maximum discount rates
• Specific sales periods

In some cases, retailers were even temporarily prohibited from offering any discounts. These rules applied across both online and physical sales channels.

​The Commission considered that those practices deprived retailers of their pricing independence and reduced competition between them, while protecting the brands’ own sales from competing offers.

More information here.

‍

NEXT STEPS :

The Commission’s decisions send a strong signal against resale price maintenance in both online and physical retail. The affected companies may still appeal before the EU courts. Once final, these decisions will serve as binding proof in potential national damages actions by affected parties. The full decisions will be published under cases AT.40840 (Gucci), AT.40880 (Chloé) and AT.40881 (Loewe) on the Commission’s competition website once confidentiality issues are resolved.

FESI will continue monitoring the case and keep members updated.