LVMH, Luxottica Hit With France Fines for Unfair Eyewear Sales Practices
July 22 2021 - 7:08AM
Dow Jones News
By Joshua Kirby
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and Luxottica, now part of
EssilorLuxottica SA, have been fined by the French antitrust
authority for unfairly controlling the prices opticians could
charge for their eyewear products, and for refusing to allow them
to be sold online.
The competition authority said on Thursday that it is imposing a
fine of 125 million euros ($147.4 million) on Italian eyewear
company Luxottica, which merged with France's Essilor in 2018, and
of EUR500,000 on Parisian luxury-goods company LVMH. The latter
sanction was reduced after LVMH decided not to contest the
charges.
The charges against Luxottica relate to all brands it
manufactures, including that of French fashion house Chanel SA.
Chanel received a fine of EUR130,000 for refusing to allow its
products to be sold online, while French eyewear maker Groupe Logo,
which produced products branded with LVMH's Tag Heuer, was also
found to have limited retailers' ability to set prices, but was not
fined after deciding not to contest the charges. Groupe Logo was
liquidated in 2016.
The charges relate to an overall period spanning from 1999 to
2015, the authority said. "These practices, anticompetitive in aim,
are serious. Specifically, they entailed the use of mechanisms of
surveillance and reprisal. Moreover, they affected consumers, some
of them captive and vulnerable, given that eye-glasses and, in some
cases, sunglasses, are a necessity," it added.
Neither LVMH, EssilorLuxottica nor Chanel immediately responded
to requests for comment.
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com;
@joshualeokirby
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 22, 2021 07:05 ET (11:05 GMT)
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