The Luxembourg Competition Authority targets a resale price maintenance practice
On 26 July 2016 the Luxembourg Competition Authority, Conseil de la Concurrence, (LCA) has closed an investigation into a resale price maintenance agreement (RPM), opened in the case SCAB Giardino Spa ( Giardino ) [1] , with a no-infringement decision. By this decision the LCA clarified that an RPM agreement is a competition restraint by object but it did not penalize the firms under investigation because it failed to establish that the supplier and distributor put in place such restrictive agreement. Finally, the LCA reminded that also vertical agreements, such as RPM agreements, fell within the scope of application of the Luxembourg leniency programme. The facts of the case Peter Pin Sarl (PP) was a Luxembourg-based retailer of furniture and home décor. One day in 2014, a shop assistant of PP refused to grant a rebate to a customer interested in buying some pieces of furniture produced by the Italian manufacturer, SCAB Giardino Spa (Giardino). Unfortunately for PP, the prospec...