Caught Red-Handed: Sennheiser Slapped with Heavy Penalties for Price Manipulation
Illegal price collusion penalty: Competition authority fines Sennheiser heavily in millions - Commission to initiate directive drafting process regarding consumer protection against unequal treatment based on gender.
Sennheiser, notorious audio equipment manufacturer, has been hit hard by the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) for engaging in deceptive price control practices for its premium headphones. Since 2015, the company has been intervening to manipulate prices when they fell below the recommended retail price (RRP). According to Andreas Mundt, the head of the Federal Cartel Office, retailers usually complied with Sennheiser's demands [1][2].
Mundt pointed out that Sennheiser employees, who had previously undergone cartel law training, used the knowledge gained not to abide by cartel laws but instead to conceal their price-fixing activities [1][2].
The fine wasn't only for Sennheiser but also reached its German subsidiary, Sonova, after they took over Sennheiser's consumer electronics division in March 2022 [1][2]. Price manipulation continued under Sonova until the Bundeskartellamt cracked down with raids in September 2022.
Sennheiser was fined approximately €5.9 million for this vertical price-fixing misconduct, which undermines fair competition and disadvantages consumers by artificially inflating prices in the premium headphone market [1]. Moreover, the investigation revealed that Sennheiser employed coded communication to conceal their coordination and evade detection by regulators, highlighting a deliberate, sophisticated approach to violating antitrust regulation [1][2].
In conclusion, Sennheiser's clandestine price-fixing activities have been exposed, and they now face the consequences. Consumers can only hope that the heavy penalties imposed encourage other manufacturers to maintain fair pricing practices in the future.
- Sennheiser electronic
- Price manipulation
- Federal Cartel Office
- Headphones
- Hefty fines
- Price-fixing
- Cartel Office
- Andreas Mundt
- Antitrust violation
- Sonova
- The ECSC Treaty, striving for fair competition and European integration, would likely frown upon Sennheiser's price manipulation practices within the premium headphone industry, as the German company was fined heavily by the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) for engaging in clandestine price-fixing activities.
- The ECSC Treaty, established to promote free trade and remove barriers among European countries, may find the involvement of Sennheiser's finance department in concealing price-fixing activities in the retail sector, using coded communication to evade detection by regulators, as a breach of business ethics and a threat to the principles it stands for.
