The Plenary of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), in its unanimous Decision No. 924/2026, accepted the settlement proposal submitted by KTENAS and imposed a reduced fine of €521,864 for resale price fixing and hindering the effective use of the internet, in breach of Article 1 of Law 3959/2011 and Article 101 TFEU.
The case concerns the markets for the import/production and retail sale of pet food for dogs and cats. It began with a message submitted via the HCC’s anonymous information platform (whistleblowing).
As part of its ex officio investigation, the Directorate-General for Competition (DGC) conducted an on-site inspection at companies active in the relevant markets (importers/distributors) in November 2024. The HCC has already imposed fines in a related case in the sector, in Decision No. 901/2026, which arose from the same investigation. The company concerned, for which sufficient evidence of an infringement had been collected, applied to enter the settlement procedure, in accordance with paragraph 16 of HCC Decision No. 790/2022.
According to the relevant announcement, the evidence shows that KTENAS engaged in vertical resale price maintenance (RPM), imposing a uniform retail price list through systematic monitoring of physical and online shops (e-shops), as well as the Skroutz platform.
Distributor compliance was secured both through a horizontal complaints mechanism among the retailers themselves and through the company’s explicit threat to impose sanctions. The arrangement took the form of an informal agreement, breaches of which triggered retaliation, including the immediate suspension of deliveries of KTENAS products and termination of the commercial relationship.
In addition, KTENAS imposed a vertical restriction on e-commerce, requiring resellers not to display prices in their online shops. This practice substantially restricted online and passive sales to consumers, facilitating the imposition of retail prices in physical shops.
The HCC Plenary decided to accept the settlement proposal submitted by KTENAS, in line with the reasoning set out in the Rapporteur’s Report, and to impose a fine of €521,864.