EU Expected to Fine Philips, Pioneer, and Asus for Restricting Online Sales of Their Products

Dutch healthcare technology company Philips and three other companies are expected to 

be fined by EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday for restricting online sales of their products, 

two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.


The ruling by the European Commission follows a 17-month investigation as part of its 

crackdown against curbs on online cross-border sales such as restricting offers based on a 

customer's location or nationality


The investigation, which kicked off in February last year, covered a total of 15 companies in 

three different segments - consumer electronics, video games and hotel rooms.


European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is due to announce decisions on 

four cases at a news conference at about 1030 GMT.The EU competition authority declined 

to comment


Philips declined to comment, but referred to a July 6 statement which estimated a EUR 30 

million ($35 million) provision for the EU sanction booked in the second quarter.


Vestager's decision to penalise a European company and others comes a week after she 

handed down a record EUR 4.34 billion fine to Google.


It could help European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, who will meet US President 

Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday to counter Trump's complaints that the EU is 

taking advantage of the United States.


The EU investigation into the consumer electronics industry targets Philips, Taiwan's Asus, 

Denon & Marantz, and Pioneer which were suspected of having restricted the ability of 

online retailers to set their own prices for appliances, notebooks and hi-fi products.


For video games, Valve Corp, the owner of the Steam distribution platform and five game 

makers - Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax - accused of 

preventing purchases because of a consumer's location or country of residence


The third investigation focused on tour operators Kuoni, REWE, Thomas Cook and TUI and 

hotel group Melia.