Resale Price Maintenance

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

The OECD has published a paper on Resale Price Maintenance.

ABSTRACT: The term "resale price maintenance" refers to a practice in which suppliers and resellers come to an understanding that places restrictions on the prices resellers may charge. There are several types of such agreements, the most common involves a supplier agreeing with retailers not to charge less than a certain price for the supplier's product. RPM may harm consumers by restricting intrabrand price competition, but RPM may benefit consumers by promoting interbrand competition. Despite these mixed effects, most OECD countries treat RPM as a per se violation of their competition laws.