Over PLN 1.1 mln (ca. EUR 275 000) for price fixing – two distributors of branded watches fined for unlawful fixing with their distributors of minimum prices offered to consumers by retail sellers

Under the antimonopoly law, it is not allowed to enter into competition-restricting agreements, including price fixing, which result in increasing prices of products and services offered by participants to such agreement.

- Unfortunately, our new and beloved homeland (EU) prohibits price fixing and formally we mustn’t write such e-mails. (I hope, however, that in this case no institution will challenge it and we won’t pay a huge fine, which would virtually be possible) (...) This e-mail was sent by a board member and was among evidence used in two proceedings instituted in December 2012 by the President of UOKiK against PHU Jubiler and Anyro&Co (undertakings dealing with retail and wholesale of watches).The conducted proceedings revealed that the two companies had been fixing with their distributors minimum retail prices for the sale of watches.

PHU Jubiler and Anyro&Co belong to one capital group. PHU Jubiler deals with wholesale distribution of, among others, watches by Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger, whereas Anyro&Co runs the wholesale distribution of, inter alia, watches by Citizen, Fossil, Adidas and Emporio Armani. Proceedings conducted by UOKiK against these undertakings revealed that the entrepreneurs had been fixing minimum retail prices with their trading partners by determining a maximum discount that could be applied by these undertakings, e.g. on e-shops websites. Contractors who failed to comply were threatened their cooperation conditions could have deteriorated, e.g. by margin decrease and imposing an obligation to pay in cash for the received product. PHU Jubiler was applying the challenged practice from November, 2010; Anyro&Co – from July, 2009, or even longer. Both undertakings were constantly monitoring prices applied by their contractors and responded to any differences as compared to the terms fixed beforehand.

The collected evidence, including e-mails sent by board members to their staff, proved that PHU Jubiler and Anyro&Co had realised the fact that they had entered into prohibited agreements with distributors and had been taking actions preventing the detection of these unlawful practices, e.g. by limiting e-mails on the agreement and conveying messages in person instead.

For entering into a prohibited agreement concerning price fixing, the President of UOKiK imposed fines on PHU Jubiler and Anyro&Co, respectively -  PLN 819 496.16 (ca. 204 874 EUR) and PLN 331 819.48 (ca. 82 954 EUR). The decisions are not final, the companies may lodge appeals.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314
Fax +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]