Twenty pharma firms fined nearly EUR 1.5mn for price fixing

The Competition Council has found that Giantera, official representative of the Dr. Ohhira brand in Lithuania, and 19 distributors of its products had agreed not to sell food supplements and cosmetic products at prices lower than the supplier’s prices, and not to offer discounts and promotions to consumers. The companies were fined a total of EUR 1,415,520 for the prohibited agreement, the authority said in a press release on Thursday.

During the investigation, the Competition Council’s experts found that between 2015 and 2022 Giantera, together with pharmacies, clinics, and other distributors - Apotheka Pharma vaistinė (apotheka.lt), Bio Sala (livin.lt), Bioklinika (newcrush.com), Filmai ir Kvapai (aromama.lt), Universiteto vaistinė (universitetovaistine.eu), Eko 123 (eko123.lt), Creator Japonicus (japoko.com), Operos vaistinė (sveikatospasaulis.lt), Alatona (vitaminoza.lt), Newglow vaistinė, Pilėnų vaistinė, Urticae vaistinė, Unavita Clinic, Entafarma group companies Entafarma and Mano vaistinė (manovaistine.lt), and EV group companies including Azeta vaistinė, Azeta, EVD, and Euroapotheca (eurovaistine.lt) - aimed at maintaining the higher selling prices of Dr. Ohhira’s food supplements and cosmetic products.

Giantera required its distributors to adhere strictly to the prices it quoted and not to apply any discounts or promotions to Dr. Ohhira-branded products. In correspondence with the distributors, Giantera’s representatives repeatedly expressed the company’s position that all must apply the same pricing and not reduce prices to end consumers.

Giantera monitored the prices charged by the distributors, warned them about non-compliance with the agreed prices, and threatened to stop the supply of goods. The distributors themselves also monitored each other’s prices and informed Giantera if they noticed any undercutting.

Jolanta Ivanauskienė, the Chairwoman of the Competition Council, emphasised that the companies that entered into the prohibited agreement sought to avoid competition among themselves and to maintain a higher price level.

"An agreement on prices across the entire distribution network is a serious infringement of competition rules, preventing not only distributors from pursuing independent pricing policies, competing with each other, and looking for the most efficient business model, but also consumers from obtaining goods at lower prices," said Ivanauskienė.

In consideration of the companies’ revenues, the gravity and duration of the violation, the Competition Council imposed the following fines: Giantera – EUR 398,600; Bio Sala – EUR 187,720; Filmai ir kvapai – EUR 100,950; Universiteto vaistinė – EUR 56,580; Apotheka Pharma vaistinė – EUR 37,890; Pilėnų vaistinė – EUR 28,000; Newglow vaistinė – EUR 22,070; Alatona – EUR 18,100; Bioklinika – EUR 12,380; Operos vaistinė – EUR 7,910; Eko 123 – EUR 5,840; Creator Japonicus – EUR 2,460; Urticae vaistinė – EUR 1,390; Unavita clinic – EUR EUR 720.

The Entafarma Group, consisting of Entafarma and Mano vaistinė, cooperated with the authority from the start of the investigation, which resulted in a 75% reduction of the financial sanction. Since the Group accepted the findings of the investigation, the joint and several fine was reduced by a further 15% to EUR 2,830.

The EV group of companies, consisting of Azeta vaistinė, Azeta, EVD, and Euroapotheca, also admitted the infringement at the end of the investigation, which led to a 15% reduction of the financial sanction, resulting in a joint and several fine of EUR 532,080.

In the absence of sufficient evidence that Atgijos vaistinė, Soderma, Žvejų vaistinė, Eurovaistinė and UnaVita were involved in the prohibited agreement, the investigation against these companies was terminated.

The decision of the Competition Council can be appealed to the Regional Administrative Court within one month from the day it is delivered or published on the institution’s website.