[ad_1]
By Emilio Parodi and Foo Yun Chee
MILAN/BRUSSELS, April 19 (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators and Italian tax police inspected a facility of luxury goods company Gucci as part of a European Union investigation spanning several countries and companies, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
The inspection on Tuesday was carried out by the Guardia di Finanza in cooperation with European Commission agents at a site in Milan connected with the manufacture of travel items, handbags and other leather goods, one of the sources said.
Gucci is part of French luxury goods group Kering PRTP.PA.
Gucci and Kering declined to comment.
The second source said other fashion companies outside the Kering group had been targeted by similar inspections.
The European Commission said on Tuesday that antitrust regulators had raided companies in the fashion sector in several EU countries.
The Commission, which acts as the competition enforcer in the 27-country EU, did not name the companies or the countries, in line with its policy. It also sent requests for information to companies active in the same sector.
The European Commission declined to comment on Wednesday.
Companies found guilty of breaching EU rules face fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover.
The Commission said on Tuesday that the latest action was not related to other raids on the fashion industry in the past two years.
EU antitrust regulators said in January 2022 they were probing whether French fashion house Pierre Cardin’s licensing and distribution deals with German clothing maker Ahlers might breach European Union rules on online and cross-border sales.
A second investigation, disclosed in June 2022 following raids on some fashion companies the previous month, centred on a group of designers who had called for changes in sales periods and discounts, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Additional reporting by Elisa Anzolin in Milan and Mimosa Spencer in Paris Writing by Keith Weir and Silvia Aloisi Editing by Catherine Evans)
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
[ad_2]
Source link
