Karl Lagerfeld lobbies EU on internet sales

Clothes designer Karl Lagerfeld met EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to try and persuade internal market regulators to keep current restrictions on online retailers for luxury goods.

 The spokesman explained that the EU
executive was reviewing current rules which allow certain
manufacturers – in this case luxury brand Chanel – to restrict online
retailers from selling their goods.

Mr Lagerfeld said he was "happy
with the current rules and did not wish to see a change,"
stressing the importance of luxury manufacturers having the right to
selective distribution agreements.

The commissioner "listened
carefully to his comments," says a statement issued after the
meeting.

The regulation expires on 31 May 2010,
but the commission intends to publish its ideas on the subject before
the end of its mandate, in autumn 2009.

For her part, consumer protection
commissioner Meglena Kuneva proposed in October 2008 to lift market
barriers for online shopping, in order for EU citizens to benefit
more from the various price differences across Europe.

But luxury brands fear that increased
online exposure of their products could boost the selling of
counterfeit items. In June 2007, online selling portal eBay was
ordered by a Paris court to pay €39.83 million compensation to
LVMH, the French luxury goods group behind Christian Dior for
allowing fake Louis Vuitton handbags, as well as perfumes and
sunglasses to be sold on the Internet. The luxury brand conglomerate
told the court that in 2006, 90 percent of the LVMH-branded goods for
sale on eBay were fakes.

In June last year, internal market
commissioner Charlie McCreevy said that the best way to tackle
counterfeit luxury goods was by enhancing co-operation between
brands, as well as member states, rather than adopting new
regulations which would be out-of-date by the time they were enacted.