Brother sewing equipment distributor fined more than a million CZK for fixing prices to retailers
Between 5 September 2016 and 25 September 2018, the undertaking Brother* set minimum or fixed retail prices for its customers for the further sale to final consumers of sewing equipment and accessories for household use supplied by Brother. The undertaking monitored the compliance of its customers with these prices and urged them by emails to increase their prices to the level set by it. At the same time, Brother warned customers that it was prepared to punish them in case of non-compliance.
The Office found out that the undertaking Brother had concluded and implemented prohibited agreements with its customers to fix prices directly for resale, thereby distorting competition in the markets for household sewing equipment and accessories in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The agreements were also capable of affecting trade between Member States of the European Union.
When imposing the fine, the Office took into account the fact that the party of the proceedings had abandoned its conduct before the administrative procedure was initiated. Brother achieved a significant reduction of the fine by implementing a compliance programme and a successful application of the settlement procedure.
This is the third case of the resale price maintenance in the sewing equipment sector detected and punished in the last year, the previous fines were imposed on STRIMA CZECH and OK business.
Press Unit of the Office
23/006 - S0298/2020
* Company Šicí technika Brother s.r.o., the subject of the Office for Protection of Competition’s fining decision, is an independent distributor of Brother products without any corporate links or other affiliation with Brother Sewing Machines Europe GmbH.
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