The Danish Competition Council has fined a manufacturer of babies’ and children’s products, HTS Besafe, a Danish branch of the Norwegian HTS Besafe AS, for unlawfully RPM-agreements with a number of resellers.
HTS Besafe’s violation of Danish Competition Law
HTS Besafe have violated the Danish Competition Act from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2020 by entering into agreements with a number of resellers.
The agreements obligated the resellers to use the recommended retail prices on certain products. Specifically, the resellers were prevented from selling car seats and sleeping bags for babies and children with discounts.
Further, HTS Besafe limited online promotions for certain products in the resellers’ web shops.
Fine for illegal RPM
The fine notice is set at DKK 8 million which is determined based on the gravity and duration of the violation as well as the company’s turnover. Agreements regarding resale prices maintenance and limitation of online promotion are considered a serious infringement leading to fines between DKK 4 to 20 million according to the Danish Competition Act.
The Danish Competition Council has assessed it as a mitigating factor that the company made efforts to ensure that their practices in the future are compliant with the competition rules and participated in solving the case.
By Andreas Christensen and Marie Løvbjerg, Horten, Denmark