"The regulatory body is launching steps to draft a law harmonizing national consumer protection rules, focusing on enforcing fairness between genders in cases of unfair treatment."

Caught Red-Handed: Sennheiser Slapped with multi-million Euro Fine for Illicit Price Fixing

Collusion in Pricing: Competition Authority Imposes Millions in Penalties on Sennheiser for Cartel Behavior - "The regulatory body is launching steps to draft a law harmonizing national consumer protection rules, focusing on enforcing fairness between genders in cases of unfair treatment."

Here's the r decked-out lowdown on the Federal Cartel Office's harsh penalty slapped on Sennheiser for a long-term, underhanded scheme to fix prices on premium headphones.

Starting as early as 2015, it's alleged that Sennheiser made illicit agreements on consumer prices—themselves—for end-users. Intriguingly, when headphones sold for sums significantly below the Recommended Retail Price (RRP), Sennheiser is said to have meddled, convincing dealers to raise prices[1][3].

Andreas Mundt, the President of the Federal Cartel Office, shed some light on the matter, confirming that Sennheiser's employees underwent cartel law training, but alas, not to uphold the law, but to hide their tracks[3].

This administrative decision doesn't spare Sonova, the Swiss hearing aid manufacturer's German subsidiary, which snagged Sennheiser's consumer electronics division in 2022, including the sale of headphones to end-users. The illegal agreements maintained their grip from March to September 2022, prompting the Federal Cartel Office's intervention—par for the course—with a raid[1].

• Sennheiser electronic
• Illicit Price Fixing
• Federal Cartel Office
• Headphones
• multi-million Euro Fine
• Penalty
• Cartel Office
• Andreas Mundt
• Price Conspiracy
• Specialized Software

[1] https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/media/Content/DE/Presse/Ereignisse/2023/Kartellverfahren-gegen-Sennheiser-und-Sonova/2134.pdf[2] https://www.presseportal.de/pm/19043/5255623[3] https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article297454463/Sennheiser-muss-fastm-Millionen-bueten.html

1. The Federal Cartel Office has imposed a multi-million Euro fine on Sennheiser for their long-term scheme of illicit price fixing on premium headphones, as revealed in the decision made against Sennheiser electronic.
2. Andreas Mundt, the President of the Federal Cartel Office, confirmed that Sennheiser's employees received cartel law training, which they allegedly used to hide their unauthorized price conspiracy on consumer prices.
3. Despite being acquired by Sonova's German subsidiary in 2022, the illicit agreements on headphone prices continued from March to September 2022, leading to a raid by the Federal Cartel Office.
4. In the audio industry, such unauthorized business practices are usually met with fines from finance authorities, as seen with the recent case of Sennheiser and Sonova.

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