LVMH, Luxottica Hit With France Fines for Unfair Eyewear Sales Practices

By Joshua Kirby

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and Luxottica, now part of EssilorLuxottica SA, have been fined by the French antitrust authority for unfairly controlling the prices opticians could charge for their eyewear products, and for refusing to allow them to be sold online.

The competition authority said on Thursday that it is imposing a fine of 125 million euros ($147.4 million) on Italian eyewear company Luxottica, which merged with France's Essilor in 2018, and of EUR500,000 on Parisian luxury-goods company LVMH. The latter sanction was reduced after LVMH decided not to contest the charges.

The charges against Luxottica relate to all brands it manufactures, including that of French fashion house Chanel SA. Chanel received a fine of EUR130,000 for refusing to allow its products to be sold online, while French eyewear maker Groupe Logo, which produced products branded with LVMH's Tag Heuer, was also found to have limited retailers' ability to set prices, but was not fined after deciding not to contest the charges. Groupe Logo was liquidated in 2016.

The charges relate to an overall period spanning from 1999 to 2015, the authority said. "These practices, anticompetitive in aim, are serious. Specifically, they entailed the use of mechanisms of surveillance and reprisal. Moreover, they affected consumers, some of them captive and vulnerable, given that eye-glasses and, in some cases, sunglasses, are a necessity," it added.

Neither LVMH, EssilorLuxottica nor Chanel immediately responded to requests for comment.

Write to Joshua Kirby at [e-mail]; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2021 07:05 ET (11:05 GMT)

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