France fines Luxottica 125 mn euros for pricing abuses

French competition regulators said Thursday they had fined Italian eyeglass giant Luxottica 125 million euros ($147 million) for forcing its prices and other sales terms on opticians.

From 2005 to 2014, the market leader "imposed" retail prices on several of France's best-known optical chains, the Autorite de la Concurrence said in a statement.

Luxottica, which makes and sells frames under licence for top brands including Chanel, Ray-Ban and Ralph Lauren, was also rapped for prohibiting online sales and discouraging special offers.

"Opticians who ignored Luxottica's messages saw themselves subjected to retaliatory measures," including suspended or delayed deliveries, or a refusal to supply certain brands, the regulator found.

The company is now called EssilorLuxotica following its 2018 merger with the French lens producer Essilor.

Luxury conglomerate LVMH imposed similar abusive restrictions on eyeglass distributors, the regulator said, but it did not contest the charges and was fined 500,000 euros.

Fashion house Chanel, meanwhile, also forbid online sales by eyeglass retailers, and was fined 130,000 euros.