Samsung has been fined 40 million euros ($46.9 million) on Wednesday by the Dutch competition authority ACM for price fixing.
Samsung has been accused of long-term price discrimination in the Netherlands, by repeatedly advising shops to raise their prices if they were selling them below Samsung’s recommended market rate.
Samsung fined $47 million for price fixing in Netherlands
The ACM said that Samsung’s conduct harmed competition between seven of the Netherlands’ major internet electronics retailers since it made it clear to all participants that their rivals would also comply with its pricing policy.
According to the documents shared by the regulators, Samsung also contacted merchants if their rivals complained about televisions being sold at low prices.
The watchdog said: “Samsung’s advice was not individual and not without consequences.”
“Its behaviour distorted competition and raised prices for consumers,” he added.
Samsung said it would go against the fine, arguing that it had never forced retailers to utilize its price advice and that shops had always been free to pick their own approach.
But the regulator said Samsung should have recognized that its efforts to influence prices were more than simple advice, and they were rather intended to structuralize market pricing for its TVs.
