News
Danish Maritime and Commercial Court: Clothing Retailers infringed Competition Law
The clothing retailers Hugo Boss, Kaufmann and Ginsborg infringed competition law when they engaged in a concerted practice regarding the exchange of information on, among other things, sale prices. This has been confirmed by the Maritime and Commercial Court.
The Maritime and Commercial Court has upheld the Competition Council's original decisions in two cases of illegal information exchange. In one case, Hugo Boss and the clothing retailer Kaufmann exchanged information about prices, discounts, and quantities, and in the other case, similar information was exchanged between Hugo Boss and the clothing retailer Ginsborg.
Hugo Boss sells Boss products in its own stores and also supplies Boss products to, among others, Kaufmann’s and Ginsborg’s stores.
Hugo Boss and Kaufmann exchanged information about prices etc. from January 2014 to November 2017. Hugo Boss and Ginsborg exchanged information from December 2014 to April 2018.
The Competition Council decided the cases in 2020. Hugo Boss and Kaufmann went on to appeal the decisions to the Competition Appeals Tribunal, which in 2021 upheld the decisions. The decisions where then further appealed to the Maritime and Commercial Court.
The Competition Council has reported the infringements to the Special Crime Unit (in Danish: National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet) in order to access whether there are grounds for criminal prosecution.
For further information
Head of Communications at the Competition and Consumer Authority, Hanne Arentoft, can be contacted by phone at (+45) 41 71 50 98.