The Federal Cartel Office Published Guidelines On Resale Price

The Federal Cartel Office (BKartA) released draft guidelines on resale price maintenance on 25 January 2017. The guidelines are primarily addressed to the food industry, but the standards will apply on other industries as well. 

Content

The 35-page guideline paper covers primarily the following topics:

• Agreements on fixed and minimum prices in contrast to maximum prices
• Non-binding price recommendations and which measures are prohibited in this context
• Quantity management and action planning between producers and distributors as well as under which circumstances resale price fixings may exceptionally be permitted, guidelines for franchising     
• Margin guarantees and renegotiations, i.e. margin guarantees in advance by the producer or demand in hindsight by the distributer if the margin is deemed too low