Philips, Asus, two other companies fined 111 million euros for price fixing

Philips (PHG.AS), Pioneer (6773.T), Asus (2357.TW) and Denon & Marantz on Tuesday have been fined 111.2 million euros ($130.1 million) European Union antitrust regulators for fixing online resale prices, Reuters reported.

The European Commission opened an investigation into the four companies in February last year as part of its crackdown against curbs on online sales across-borders, such as restricting offers based on a customer’s location or nationality.

Reuters had reported earlier on Tuesday that the EU would penalise Philips and three other companies.

The EU competition enforcer said the companies engaged in “fixed or minimum resale price maintenance” by restricting the ability of their online retailers to set their own retail prices for widely used consumer electronics products such as kitchen appliances, notebooks and hi-fi products.