Sanrio hit with $7 mln EU fine for cross-border sales curbs

Sanrio Co

09/07/2019 10:45

BRUSSELS, July 9 (Reuters) - Japanese company Sanrio
 8136.T , which owns the Hello Kitty franchise, was fined 6.2
million euros ($6.94 million) by EU antitrust regulators on
Tuesday for preventing cross-border sales of its products in
Europe.
    The European Commission, which started an investigation into
the company and several others two years ago, said Sanrio's
non-exclusive licensing agreements breached EU antitrust rules.
The anti-competitive practices occurred from January 2008 to
December 2018. 
    These included direct measures restricting out-of-territory
sales by licensees and measures such as a audits and not
renewing contracts to encourage compliance with the curbs.
    The restrictions concerned products featuring Hello Kitty
and other characters owned by Sanrio, the European Commission
said in a statement.
    ($1 = 0.8931 euros)

 (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Robin Emmott)
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