1 March 2018: The Competition Prosecutor General from the Belgian competition authority and the General Rapporteur from the French Autorité de la concurrence indicate that unannounced inspections have been carried out in the cosmetics distribution sector.

Following judicial authorization, the Investigation and Prosecution Services from the Belgian authority and the Investigation services from the French Autorité de la concurrence have raided the premises of companies suspected of having engaged in possible anticompetitive practices in the sector of distribution of cosmetics in France and Belgium.

Such interventions do not, of course, pre-suppose the existence of a breach of the law which could be imputed to the companies involved in the alleged practices, which only a full investigation into the merits of the case could establish, if appropriate.

The French Autorité will neither comment on the companies nor on the practices.