Why the Antitrust sticks Unieuro and Monclick

4 January 20231 year ago babelfish

Millionaire fines for unfair commercial practices: the Antitrust imposes a fine of 3 million euro for Unieuro and 1.2 for Monclick. All the details

2023 begins with very high fines for Unieuro and its subsidiary Monclick . The Antitrust has imposed a fine of 3 million euros for the chain of electronic products and household appliances and 1.2 for Monclick . The reason? Unfair business practices.

THE FINES OF THE ANTITRUST AGAINST UNIEURO AND MONCLICK

The Antitrust, in Provision no. 30421 published in Bulletin 1 of 2 January 2023 , stated that the companies " repeated certain conduct deemed illegal " attributable to the dissemination of misleading information on the characteristics of the commercial offers, with specific reference to the availability and delivery times of products, as well as incorrect management of the online purchasing process.

UNFAIR PRACTICES IN THE PRE-CONTRACTUAL PHASE

The crimes start from afar. With provision no. 29937 of 3 December 2021, the Authority had ascertained that Unieuro and Monclick had put in place two unfair commercial practices in the context of the online sale of products. The first unfair practice related to the pre-contractual phase of online product promotion. Basically they were advertised as available products that were not physically present in the warehouses of the two companies . In addition, Monclick had not communicated on its website that it operated under a dropshipping regime, i.e. a sales model for which a product is marketed without physically possessing it in its warehouse. Furthermore, Monclick sent an immediate debit at the time of the online order and therefore before the conclusion of the contract.

THE IMPROPER PRACTICES IN THE PHASES AFTER THE PURCHASE

The post-purchase practices contested by the companies are:

"delayed/non-delivery of products sold on the Sites and already paid for by consumers";
"the omission of information relating to the tracking and shipping status of the orders";
"the obstacle to the exercise of the rights of withdrawal and/or reimbursement of consumers following the delayed/non-delivery of the products and/or the unilateral cancellation of the order";
"the omitted/inadequate provision of the after-sales assistance service".

UNIEURO AND MONCLICK COMPLIANCE REPORTS

The two companies had responded to the allegations with their own compliance reports in which they claimed, and tried to demonstrate, that they had "completely eliminated the profiles of impropriety ascertained". Furthermore, on 14 March 2022 the companies were heard in a hearing. However, " in the light of some reports received by the Authority " the continuation of the " unlawful conduct object of censure by the Authority " emerged, oriented, according to what established by the Antitrust in the IP359 provision of 14 June 2022, "to disseminate information misleading on the characteristics of the commercial offers, to incorrectly manage the online sales process and to hinder the rights of withdrawal and reimbursement of consumers".

THE CONTINUATION OF UNFAIR PRACTICES

Following notification of the June ruling, the companies continued with the following unfair practices:

indicate the availability of the products, qualifying all the goods offered for sale online as "available", although in reality the products were not physically available to the sellers;
order the immediate blocking of the ceiling, with consequent freezing of the amount corresponding to the purchase price, at the time of the online order and before the conclusion of the contract.

While they have not repeated the malpractices in the post-sales phase.

THE ANTITRUST FINES FOR UNIEURO AND MONCLICK

The fines imposed by the Antitrust, 3 million euros for Unieuro and 1.2 million for Monclick, must be paid within thirty days of notification of the measure , i.e. on 2 January 2023. Payment must be made electronically by debiting the account bank or postal current. The companies must immediately communicate the payment to the Competition and Market Authority by sending the documentation certifying the payment made. Within 60 days of notification of the measure, companies can appeal to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court against the measure.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia-on-demand/perche-lantitrust-bastona-unieuro-e-monclick/ on Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:41:44 +0000.