Swiss COMCO continues to focus on cross-border passive
sales restrictions
In the last couple of years, the Swiss Competition Commission
(COMCO) has continued its vigorous campaign against vertical
restraints aiming at the foreclosure of Swiss markets. To this end,
it has acted aggressively against suspected restrictions on passive
sales to Switzerland. COMCO's campaign has been supported by
the Swiss media which, in some cases, attacked the parties for
allegedly "ripping off" Swiss consumers.
COMCO claimed repeatedly that its investigations contributed to
the government's fight against high Swiss retail prices. At
least in some of COMCO's recent cases, however, high Swiss
retail prices may rather be attributed to high costs of Swiss
distribution channels, Swiss consumers' purchase power, Swiss
consumers' preference for high quality product versions, etc.
Also, in some of these cases, evidence for significant effects on
the Swiss market of these alleged restrictions
