PARIS (Reuters) – The French Competition Authority announced on Wednesday that it had sanctioned electrical equipment manufacturers Schneider Electric and Legrand, as well as distributors Rexel and Sonepar for collusion on sales prices, with a total fine of 470 million euros.
“The first agreement was implemented by the company Schneider Electric and its distributors Rexel and Sonepar between December 2012 and September 2018. The second was implemented by the company Legrand and its distributor Rexel from May 2012 to September 2015,” indicates the Authority in a press release.
She criticizes the companies for having put in place a system which “allowed manufacturers of electrical equipment to set the resale prices of their products to end customers and for distributors to preserve their margins.”
In a press release released on the occasion of the publication of its results, Schneider Electric, which was fined 207 million euros, said it contested the Authority’s conclusion.
The group “rejects any allegation that its distribution practices do not comply with competition rules” and reserves the right to appeal.
For its part, Legrand, which was fined 43 million euros, indicates in a press release that it “categorically refutes the complaint made against it and reserves the right to appeal this decision”.
Rexel states in a separate press release “that the mechanism of the exemptions (…) is a classic commercial discount on the purchase price granted by the supplier to the distributor”. The group was fined 124 million euros and also reserves the right to appeal the sanction.
The distributor Sonepar, which is not listed on the stock exchange, says in a press release “convinced of having worked for the benefit of its customers, in strict compliance with competition rules”. Sentenced to a fine of 96 million euros, he intends to appeal to the Paris Court of Appeal.
This sanction follows the opening, in 2018, of a judicial investigation into an alleged system of price fixing intended to limit competition in the electrical equipment distribution sector.
(Writing by Kate Entringer, editing by Tangi Salaün)
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