Bundeskartellamt fines Sennheiser and Sonova for resale price maintenance
On 16 April 2025, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) imposed fines totaling EUR 6 million on Sennheiser electronic SE & Co. KG and Sonova Consumer Hearing Sales Germany GmbH, as well as three individuals involved in their distribution operations. The authority found that both companies had engaged in systematic resale price maintenance (RPM) for premium headphones sold under the Sennheiser brand, in violation of German and EU competition law.
Sennheiser had operated a selective distribution system, where authorized retailers were required to meet certain quality criteria. Starting in 2015, Sennheiser monitored online sales prices through specially developed software and internet price comparison tools. This monitoring was not merely for market observation purposes. Instead, Sennheiser used the data to identify unauthorized price deviations from its recommended retail prices (RRPs) and then intervened – often indirectly – by contacting dealers whose prices were deemed too low.
Although Sennheiser avoided directly instructing resellers to raise prices, internal communication patterns and a coded language made the intent of such interventions unmistakable. Employees were explicitly trained on how to refer to compliance with selective distribution criteria instead of end-consumer prices. These internal guidelines were based on legal training, but in practice, they were used to disguise anticompetitive conduct. The goal was to give illegal RPM the appearance of lawful contractual enforcement.
This practice continued even after Sennheiser sold its Consumer Hearing division to Sonova AG (Switzerland) in March 2022. The Sonova subsidiaries in Germany carried on the same RPM conduct, albeit less frequently. The Bundeskartellamt’s investigation was triggered by a request for administrative assistance from the Austrian competition authority and culminated in a search operation in September 2022.
The proceedings were settled. Both Sennheiser and Sonova cooperated fully, which the authority considered in calculating the fines. No fines were imposed on the retailers involved, as the Bundeskartellamt attributed primary responsibility to the manufacturers.
Practical Takeaways for Distribution and Competition Compliance
- Resale price maintenance remains a core antitrust violation under Article 101(1) TFEU and § 1 GWB, even in the context of selective distribution.
- Digital monitoring tools, such as price crawlers and automated screenshots, increase legal exposure when used to facilitate or enforce RRPs.
- Indirect language and internal “compliance codes” cannot shield manufacturers from liability if the actual effect is price control.
- Anticompetitive conduct may carry over post-acquisition, making compliance due diligence and post-merger integration audits essential.
- Luxury and premium product segments are not exempt from the strict enforcement of vertical restraint rules.
- Internal trainings and workshops, if used to design circumvention strategies, can aggravate antitrust liability rather than mitigate it.
Further Reading: If you are involved in designing or reviewing selective distribution systems, pricing policies, or dual-distribution models in Europe, you will find detailed and practical guidance in: Benedikt Rohrßen, “Vertrieb in Europa – Rechtssichere Gestaltung von Vertriebssystemen und Handelsverträgen”, Springer, 2023, available here via SpringerLink
