MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s competition authority said on Wednesday it was probing apparel retailer Benetton for possible abuse in two of its franchising contracts with independent retailers.
The authority added that it had carried out, with Italy’s finance police, inspections in some Benetton offices on Tuesday.
The regulator is looking into the possible use of contractual clauses by Benetton to heavily condition the resellers’ strategic choices, for example in terms of timing and quantity of purchase orders.
It said the use of such a contractual framework by a company “managing a significant franchise network … could have a significant impact on all the entrepreneurs making up the network, thus penalising the competitiveness of the market”.
The Benetton group had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia, additional reporting by Elisa Anzolin, editing by Agnieszka Flak)
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