A NOTICE OF SUSPECTED VIOLATION HAS BEEN SENT TO COMPANIES SELLING FOOD SUPPLEMENTS AND COSMETIC PRODUCTS

The Competition Council concluded its investigation and sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Giantera, a company supplying and distributing food supplements and cosmetics under the brand name Dr. Ohhira, and to other companies distributing these products.

The investigation was initiated on suspicion that Giantera, the official representative of the Dr. Ohhira brand in Lithuania, had agreed with the companies distributing its products not to sell the goods at prices lower than those specified by the supplier. According to the conclusions presented by the Competition Council's Anti-competitive Agreements Investigation Group, Giantera and its distributors – Apotheka Pharma vaistinė (apotheka.lt), Bio Sala (livin.lt), Bioklinika (newcrush.com), Entafarma and Mano vaistinė (manovaistine.lt), belonging to the same group of undertakings, Filmai ir kvapai (aromama.lt), Universiteto vaistinė (universitetovaistine.eu), Azeta vaistinė, Azeta, EVD, and Euroapotheca (eurovaistine.lt), belonging to the same group of undertakings, Eko 123 (eko123.lt), Creator Japonicus (japoko.com), Operos vaistinė (sveikatospasaulis.lt), Alatona (vitaminoza.lt), Newglow vaistinė, Pilėnų vaistinė, Urticae vaistinė, and clinic Unavita – possibly entered into a prohibited agreement to set resale prices for Dr. Ohhira branded food supplements and cosmetic products, thereby restricting competition.

In the absence of sufficient evidence regarding the involvement of Atgijos vaistinė, Soderma, Žvejų vaistinė, Eurovaistinė and UnaVita in the prohibited agreement, it is proposed to terminate the investigation against them.

According to the SO of the Competition Council, Giantera and its distributors may have pursued a joint strategy between 2015 and 2022 to maintain higher selling prices for Dr. Ohhira branded food supplements and cosmetics. To this end, Giantera monitored the distributors' prices, prohibited loyalty programmes, promotions, sales, warned them about non-compliance with the agreed prices, and threatened to stop supplying the products. In addition, the distributors themselves also monitored each other's prices and informed Giantera if they noticed lower prices.

During the investigation, Entafarma and Mano vaistinė, both belonging to the same group of companies, cooperated with the Authority, admitted the infringement and submitted to the Competition Council a leniency application for the participation in the prohibited agreement. Azeta Pharmacy, Azeta, EVD and Euroapotheca, all belonging to the same group of companies, also submitted written statements of acknowledgement of the infringement of the Law on Competition.

The Anti-competitive Agreements Investigation Group proposes to conclude that the above 20 undertakings have infringed Article 5 of the Law on Competition by entering into a prohibited agreement on the resale price fixing of Dr. Ohhira branded food supplements and cosmetics.

The interested parties, after having taken into consideration the material collected and the assessment carried out by the Authority's investigators, have the right to submit their arguments in writing to the Council and to make an oral presentation at the hearing before the Competition Council adopts a final decision on the possible infringement and imposes financial penalties. 

The SO does not constitute a final decision of the Competition Council and in no way restricts the right of the Competition Council to arrive at a different conclusion in the final decision than that proposed in the Group's Statement.