European Commission Turns the Spotlight on Fashion Houses, Antitrust Probe Underway
The European Commission (“EC” or “Commission”) announced this week that it has initiated unannounced inspections of—and issued formal requests for information from—multiple companies in the fashion industry in several European Union member states. Such raids and requests are the first steps in the Commission’s now-disclosed investigation into potential anticompetitive conduct in the fashion industry, specifically as to whether there have been violations of the cartel prohibition provision of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and/or Article 53 of the European Economic Area Agreement, which prohibits other unfair business practices. In keeping with its regular practice, the EC did not disclose which companies were subject to these “dawn raids” and/or information requests, or which fashion types were the subject of its investigation.
Read More