In this memo, Matthew Bennett discusses the recent interest by competition authorities in vertical communications between manufacturers and retailers, and explains the dangers of conflating Recommended Retail Prices, which are relatively common and pro-competitive, with Retail Price Maintenance, which is treated as a hard-core competition law infringement in Europe.
Assessing umbrella pricing incentives
When collusive agreements involve a subset of firms in an industry, they may create the incentive and ability for firms that are not participants in the cartel...