PARIS – Pierre Cardin and its Germany-based licensee Ahlers will have to pay a 5.7-million-euro fine for agreeing to restrict cross-border sales as well as sales to specific customers, the European Commission said Thursday.
An investigation launched in 2022 by the EC, the executive arm of the European Union in charge of implementing the regulations of the European Parliament and the EU, found that the two companies had entered into “anticompetitive agreements and engaged in concerted practices to shield Ahlers from competition in those EEA countries where the company held a Pierre Cardin license” between 2008 and 2021.
The breakdown of the cumulated 5.7-million-euro fine, or $6 million at current exchange rates, shows that the French fashion house has been ordered to pay 2.2 million euros and Ahlers 3.5 million euros.
In the ruling, one of the parties submitted a claim for inability to pay the fine and was granted a reduction, although it did not indicate which company this applied to.
Companies that breach the EU’s antitrust rules face fines of up to 10 percent of their global turnover.
In July 2023, German group Röthers took over Ahlers, which was in insolvency. Its assets, including brands in its portfolio like Pierre Cardin and Baldessarini, were folded into a subsidiary called R.Brand Group. According to German press, Röthers also negotiated a new license agreement with Pierre Cardin.
Neither Pierre Cardin nor R.Brand Group immediately responded to a request for comment.
Antitrust regulators conducted an unannounced inspection of the French brand and the German clothing manufacturer in 2021, followed by the opening of a formal investigation in early 2022 into the two companies.
In a statement of objection sent in July 2023, the European Commission said the two companies appeared to have agreed to restrict cross-border sales as well as sales to specific customers.
The goal of this coordination between the two companies was “to ensure Ahlers’ absolute territorial protection in the countries covered by its licensing agreements with Pierre Cardin” within the European Economic Area, it said at the time.
The EC has been increasingly active in pursuing suspected anti-competitive practices. The price fixing practices fall under the antitrust regulations that prohibit agreements between companies that distort competition within the single market trading bloc. In recent years, it has stepped up its efforts to enforce rules against curbs on cross-border imports and online sales.
In 2023, antitrust regulators conducted unannounced inspections into a number of undisclosed companies in several countries of the 27-member bloc to investigate business practices that could lead to fragmentation in the single market. Among the companies inspected was Gucci.
Several beauty and fragrance companies linked to the supply of fragrance or fragrance ingredients also came under investigation the same year.
