LVMH, Luxottica Hit With France Fines for Unfair Eyewear Sales Practices -- Update
July 22 2021 - 11:36AM
Dow Jones News
By Joshua Kirby
Eyewear group EssilorLuxottica SA said Thursday that it will
appeal a French antitrust authority fine imposed on Luxottica for
unfair sales practices, among other companies, calling the decision
both factually and legally wrong.
The competition authority earlier Thursday said that it was
handing down the largest fine of 125 million euros ($147.4 million)
to Italy's Luxottica, which merged with French peer Essilor in
2018, with a fine of EUR500,000 given to Parisian luxury-goods
giant LVMH. The latter sanction was reduced after LVMH decided not
to contest the charges.
The fines come following an investigation that found the
companies guilty of unfairly controlling the prices opticians could
charge for their eyewear products, and for refusing to allow them
to be sold online. The charges relate to an overall period spanning
from 1999 to 2015, the authority said.
"EssilorLuxottica firmly believes it has always conducted
business according to the highest standard of compliance," the
group said in a statement, adding that the fine is "highly
disproportionate and groundless." The company added that it will
appeal the authority's decision, and it is confident of proving it
wrong from both a factual and legal perspective.
The charges against Luxottica relate to all brands it
manufactures, including that of French fashion house Chanel. Chanel
itself 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 found
also to have limited retailers' ability to set prices, but wasn't
fined after deciding not to contest the charges. Logo was
liquidated in 2016.
"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.
A spokesperson for Chanel declined to comment, while LVMH didn't
respond to a request for comment.
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com;
@joshualeokirby
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 22, 2021 11:22 ET (15:22 GMT)
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