The Competition Council has issued a fine of DKK 8 million to HTS Besafe for violation of the Competition Act. HTS Besafe has acknowledged having violated the Competition Act and has accepted the fine.
HTS Besafe is a Danish branch of the Norwegian HTS Besafe AS which manufactures baby and children's products, including car seats and Voksi sleeping bags. The company has accepted a fine notice of DKK 8 million for having unlawfully entered into agreements with a number of resellers to stick to the recommended retail price of some of the company’s products. At the same time, HTS Besafe has restricted the resellers’ online sale of certain products.
HTS Besafe’s violation of the Competition Act
The case documents show that HTS Besafe has entered into agreements with a number of resellers to stick to the recommended retail price of certain products. Consequently, the resellers were prevented from selling car seats and Voksi sleeping bags at a discount.
HTS Besafe has also restricted the online sale of certain products on the resellers’ web shops. The company has thus violated the prohibition of the Competition Act against binding resale prices, according to which resellers must be free to fix their selling prices. The violation took place from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2020.
Size of the fine
The violations are serious violations of the competition rules. In general, it will result in fines of minimum DKK 4 million for companies and DKK 100,000 for persons. Regard is had to the gravity of the violation, its duration and the company's turnover, which may have influence the size of the fine.
When fixing the fine, the Competition Council has as an aggravating circumstance given weight to the fact that the company has made an active effort for all the company’s employees to comply with the competition rules in the future. In addition, weight has been given to the fact that the company has contributed to clarifying the matter.
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