BRUSSELS/MILAN (Reuters) – European competition authorities are investigating the pricing practices of fashion houses with regard to their distributors, Reuters has learned from people familiar with the matter, after carrying out searches at the premises in April of Gucci, owned by Kering, and other firms.
According to one of the three sources, European competition authorities are looking into whether these companies impose in-store prices on multi-brand retailers who sell their products, threatening them to stop supplying them if these prices are not respected.
Such practices are illegal in the European Union, where any violation can be punished by a fine of up to 10% of the worldwide turnover of the company concerned.
The European Commission and Kering declined requests for comment.
The French group confirmed in April that Gucci was cooperating with European investigators after Reuters reported that competition authorities had carried out a search of the brand’s Milan premises.
The European Commission, which did not release the identities of the companies targeted by the raids, said at the time that they may have breached EU rules on cartels and restrictive business practices, without providing further details. .
In 2018, the American brand Guess was fined 40 million euros for preventing distributors from independently setting the selling prices of its products.
(Report Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Emilio Parodi in Milan, with Silvia Aloisi in Paris; Bertrand Boucey and Jean Terzian)
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