"Vertical agreements"

BWB requested fines against Sonova and Sennheiser

The Federal Competition Authority (BWB) has applied to the Cartel Court for fines of EUR 534,000 and EUR 100,000 respectively against the Swiss hearing aid manufacturer Sonova and the German audio technology manufacturer Sennheiser for "vertical agreements" - based on investigations in the consumer electronics sector. 

The BWB began investigations in 2022 into the trade in Sennheiser brand headphones between the foreign companies on suspicion of this. Vertical price fixing refers to agreements between companies operating at different levels of the supply chain.

"Sennheiser and Sonova engaged in conduct in breach of antitrust law by engaging in vertical resale price maintenance in relation to consumer electronics products (entertainment/household electronics) of the Sennheiser brand," the BWB announced on Friday. "This was a single and continuous infringement."

The infringements of competition law were committed by Sennheiser in the period from May 2015 to February 2022 and by Sonova from March 2022 to September 2022.

Sonova - which specializes in medical hearing aids - took over the entire range of wired and wireless headphones and in-ear headphones for everyday use, accessories and soundbars for TV and hi-fi from Sennheiser in 2021. The Germans retained the business with professional studio and DJ headphones, microphones, wireless transmitters and radio links as well as conference systems and other event technology.