The Bundeskartellamt Imposes Fine on Bose GmbH

On the 2nd of December, the German Competition Authority (“the Bundeskartellamt”) has imposed a fine totalling around 7 million Euros on audio equipment manufacturer Bose GmbH,  on account of resale price maintenance.

Conducting the usual negotiations on purchasing prices, Bose employees also agreed on concerted measures for setting sales prices with the authorised dealers in question. These measures generally pertained to an increase in sales prices, which were also specifically set in some cases.

In this way, Bose wanted to prevent that the sales prices offered by the authorised dealers deviated too much from the recommended retail prices. This was monitored by Bose employees. The company intervened on several occasions in which the dealers had deviated from the recommended resale price and the dealers stopped the conduct objected to in a number of cases. The dealers in question played their part in this by complaining to Bose about the (too) low sales prices offered by other authorised dealers.

The Bose has been fined around 7 million Euros by Bundeskartellamt. The order imposing the fine is final.

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Zumbul Attorneys at Law

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