French Regulator Fines Ray Ban’s Parent Company $125M

France’s antitrust body, Autorite de la Concurrence, has fined several luxury eyewear brands, including LVMH and Chanel, for imposing price limitations on opticians and stopping them from selling products online.

The regulator said Thursday that EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of brands such as Crizal, Oakley and Ray-Ban, must pay a fine of $147.60 million, and LVMH and Chanel must pay $588,930 and $153,120, respectively.

“These anti-competitive practices are serious,” the antitrust body said. “In particular, they involved the implementation of surveillance and retaliation mechanisms.”

EssilorLuxottica said it plans to appeal the ruling and added that the company has remained compliant in all of its business dealings, Reuters reported. Chanel, meanwhile, declined to comments and LVMH said it had no comments on the matter.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on July 23, 2021.