European commission issues its first resale price maintenance
decisions in over a decade fining four consumer electronics
manufacturers for fixing online resale prices - monitoring software
and pricing algorithms played a role.
On 24 July 2018, the European Commission
("Commission") fined, in four separate decisions,
consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz,
Philips and Pioneer for imposing fixed or minimum resale prices on
their online retailers. The total fine imposed on the four
manufacturers amounts to more than EUR 111 million.
The infringements related to a variety of consumer electronics
such as kitchen appliances, notebooks and hi-fi products. The four
manufacturers were found to have intervened with online retailers
who offered their products at low prices. If those retailers did
not respect the prices requested by the manufacturers, they faced
– according to the decisions – threats or sanctions
such as blocked supplies. Pioneer had also
