The Retailer Winter Edition 2023

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2023.” ‘‘

Retail price maintenance (RPM) As before, retailers must always be free to determine their prices. If a supplier or distrib utor tries to set the retail price or stipulate a minimum retail price for a product, this is retail price maintenance - RPM – and rep resents a severe breach of competition law. RPM is very much on the regulators’ radar: the UK Competition and Markets Authority has imposed a number of fines in recent years. It also recently announced that it is actively looking for RPM cases to pursue – and warns that retailers must be compliant and could be subject to penalties. Retailers should therefore remain vigilant and always reject any attempts at RPM. The new rules helpfully provide more clarity about what is prohibited, particularly indirect means of RPM, e.g., minimum advertised prices, which prohibit retailers from advertising prices below a level set by the supplier.

New distribution agreements are already subject to the revised rules and existing agreements must comply by June

It will be interesting to seewhether these future facing rules stand the test of time, particularly with exciting newdevelopments like consumer goods manufacturers starting to enter the metaverse, and who knows what else could be around the corner. In the meantime, the new rules are a significant improvement on the previous outdated provi sions. They offer more flexibility and clarity, are more practical, and more accurately reflect the developments in online distribution. However, international retailers should be aware of the key prohibitions, and emerging differences in the UK and EU when adopting a strategic approach to compliance.

Graeme Young cms.law/en/gbr/people/graeme-young

Rhiannon Pugh cms.law/en/gbr/people/rhiannon-pugh

Rhiannon Pugh cms.law/en/gbr/people/siobhan-kahmann