Price of glasses imposed on opticians: 125 million fine for Luxottica

The Competition Authority imposed a fine of more than 125 million euros on the Italian eyewear manufacturer Luxottica, the world's leading supplier, for having "imposed" in France, "on opticians, retail prices and their credit. forbidden to sell on the internet, ”she announced Thursday.

Two other groups, LVMH (owner of Parisien-Today in France), and Chanel, were fined respectively 500,000 euros and 130,000 euros, the first for the same two reasons, the second for the sole prohibition to sell online, says a press release.

These practices have affected "large national brands" such as Alain Afflelou, Krys, GrandVision or Optical Center, details the gendarme of the competition.

A very heavy sanction

The leader of the sector Luxottica, very heavily sanctioned, "between 2005 and 2014", "disseminated to its distributors so-called recommended prices and had encouraged them to maintain a certain level of retail price of its products".

These practices concern the glasses of famous brands licensed with Luxottica, including Chanel, Ray Ban, Oakley, Prada, Burberry, Bulgari, Dolce & Gabanna, Armani, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, Ralph Lauren.

Luxottica has drawn up lists of “recommended prices” and concluded selective distribution contracts with its distributors “interpreted as prohibiting in particular discounts and promotions during retail sales”.

In addition, the Italian group "imposed on its distributors certain restrictions on the advertising they carried out on their prices and organized the monitoring of these prices", continues the Authority.

Finally, “opticians who persist in ignoring Luxottica's messages have seen retaliatory measures applied,” she explains.

A fourth company, Logo (for the TAG Heuer brand), was pinned for having also restricted the pricing freedom of opticians who sold its products, but having been placed in compulsory liquidation in 2016, it was not sanctioned.

In addition, clauses in the license contracts concluded by these groups as well as the charters of authorized retailers for Luxottica, "prohibited the online sale of sunglasses and spectacle frames by opticians", an offense deemed less.