Aussie regulator says Hong Kong's Techtronic ordered to pay $9.9 mln penalty (updated)

Techtronic Industries Co

01/12/2023 01:09

(Adds details from ACCC statement in paragraph 2-6)
       Dec 1 (Reuters) - Australian competition regulator said
the Federal Court had ordered Hong Kong-based Techtronic
Industries  0669.HK  to pay a penalty of A$15 million ($9.92
million) after the power tool supplier admitted to engaging in
resale price maintenance (RPM).
    RPM refers to goods suppliers specifying a minimum price
below which a reseller must not supply, offer to supply,
advertise, or display those goods for sale, the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a statement
on Friday.
    ACCC said that the company admitted that between January
2016 and July 2021, it entered into 97 agreements with sellers
which restricted the sale of Milwaukee products below a
specified minimum price.
    Techtronic also admitted that it had restrictive RPM
provisions in its contracts 29 times between December 2016 and
May 2020, the regulator said, adding that it ordered the company
to post corrective notices on its website and to its dealers and
implement ACCC's compliance program.
    "The ACCC submitted to the Court that this level of penalty
was appropriate given the seriousness, duration and extent of
Techtronic's conduct," ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.
    "Resale price maintenance is illegal because it is harmful
to price competition, which may mean consumers pay a higher
price than they would in a truly competitive market."

($1 = 1.5122 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)
 ((Poonam.Behura@thomsonreuters.com;))