The Coty Judgment On Selective Distribution Systems - Importance For Switzerland And Key Takeaways

In its Coty judgement of 6 December 2017, the ECJ confirmed that a supplier of luxury goods may establish a selective distribution system with the aim of protecting the luxury image of its products. To achieve this aim of protecting the luxury image, the supplier may prohibit authorised retailers from selling the products on third party platforms which operate in a discernible manner towards consumers, such as Amazon, eBay, and Zalando.

In the following, we will have a look at the key takeaways from the Coty case, and its importance for selective distributions systems in Switzerland.

1 ECJ approves the use of selective distribution systems subject to certain conditions

Selective distribution systems are systems in which (i) the supplier undertakes to sell the contract goods or services only to selected distributors on the basis of defined criteria, and (ii) those distributors undertake not to sell those goods or services to non-authorised distributors but only to