UPDATE: EU Opens Antitrust Probe Into Luxury Watch Makers
05 August 2011 - 9:38PM
Dow Jones News
The European Commission is opening an antitrust investigation
into luxury watch manufacturers for allegedly refusing to supply
spare parts to independent repairers, breaching European Union
competition rules, it said in a statement Friday.
In 2004, the European Confederation of Watch and Clock
Repairers' Associations, or CEAHR, complained to the commission,
which has antitrust powers in the EU, saying that watch
manufacturers were refusing to supply spare parts, but the
commission decided to reject the complaint.
However, it is now opening a probe because a European Court has
annulled that decision.
"An initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission
has conclusive proof of an infringement. It only means that the
Commission will investigate the case as a matter of priority," it
said in its statement.
Switzerland's Swatch Group AG (UHR.VX), the watchmaker, whose
brands range from the luxury Breguet to the eponymous plastic
Swatches, said it is "confident" regarding the investigation's
outcome, without elaborating. A spokesman for luxury watch and
jewelry maker Compagnie Financiere Richemont (CFR.VX) declined
comment. France's LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC.FR), the
world's biggest luxury retailer by revenue, wasn't immediately
available for comment.
-By Alessandro Torello, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 14 88;
alessandro.torello@dowjones.com
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