The Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) has imposed fines totaling nearly €500,000 on two pet food suppliers after accepting their settlement proposals in a case involving the fixing of resale prices in the pet food market.
In Decision No. 901/2026, adopted unanimously by the Commission’s Plenary Session, the authority concluded a dispute settlement procedure with KOBA – Single-Member Limited Liability Company and Happy Dog Animal Feed Trading Company. The companies admitted their involvement in resale price maintenance practices that infringed both national and EU competition law, specifically Article 1 of Law 3959/2011 and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The case concerns the markets for the import or production and retail sale of pet food for companion animals, particularly dogs and cats. According to the Commission, the companies engaged in practices aimed at fixing the resale prices applied by their distribution networks, affecting both brick-and-mortar retailers and online stores.
The investigation began after the Commission received a submission through its anonymous whistleblowing platform. Acting on this information, the Directorate General for Competition carried out unannounced inspections at companies operating as importers and distributors in the relevant markets in November 2024.
During the investigation, the authority gathered evidence indicating that the two suppliers had implemented resale price maintenance mechanisms within their distribution networks. According to the Commission, the companies monitored the retail prices charged by cooperating resellers, particularly through online price comparison platforms. The purpose of this monitoring was “to correct the prices in their partners’ online stores,” the authority said.
In addition to monitoring retail prices, the companies reportedly sent warnings to resellers instructing them to align their prices with the suppliers’ price lists. Retailers subsequently complied with these requests. The Commission emphasized that “contractual terms or practices in vertical agreements by which the resale prices of the products distributed by a distributor are set constitute a particularly serious restriction of competition.”
Following the investigation, both companies applied to participate in the Commission’s dispute settlement procedure, provided for under Decision No. 790/2022. This mechanism allows undertakings that acknowledge their participation in an infringement to obtain a reduction in fines in exchange for waiving certain procedural rights and facilitating a faster resolution of the case.
Accepting the settlement proposals, the Commission imposed a fine of €387,498 on KOBA and €95,000 on Happy Dog Animal Feed Trading Company. The total penalties therefore amount to just under €500,000.
The HCC noted that the document summarizing the decision is an unofficial version intended for media use and is not legally binding. The full text of Decision No. 901/2026 will be published in the Government Gazette and on the Commission’s website.