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BRUSSELS, April 19: The European Commission on Friday accused fine-art auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s of colluding to fix prices — more than one year after the United States convicted them of the same offence.
“We have collected evidence that the two leading auction houses have colluded to fix commissions and on other aspects of the trade,” European Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres told a news conference.
The case has already roiled the rarified world of high-end art auctions and may send the former Sotheby’s chairman to prison on Monday, but the two dominant auction houses are now as busy as ever, selling everything from Renoir paintings to the first draft of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony.
Sotheby’s Holdings Inc. agreed 14 months ago to pay $45 million in criminal fines in the United States. Separately, its former chairman A. Alfred Taubman was convicted of price-fixing in December and will be sentenced in New York on Monday.
The companies may also face large fines in Europe but no jail time, because the European Union has no criminal anti-cartel rules.
“There are quite considerable differences between the two systems,” Torres said.
SECRET OUTLINE: The Commission’s 50-page “Statement of Objections” issued on Friday, which remains secret, outlines in detail the Commission’s preliminary findings.
The Commission said the statement alleges that in addition to raising commission rates, the companies agreed to other trading conditions including advances paid to sellers, guarantees given for auction results and payment conditions.
The auction houses have a right to respond and to appeal any Commission decision to the European Court of Justice.
Torres had no estimate of how long the European Commission investigation might take or what any punishment might be. Such investigations have sometimes taken years. The Commission can fine offenders up to 10 percent of annual turnover.
The two auction houses form a duopoly in the world of art, the Commission said. In addition to multi-million dollar sales of such paintings as Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and Monet’s “Waterlilies”, they are known for auctioning off pop iconography such as Princess Diana’s evening dresses and signed copies of Beatles albums.
The auction houses agreed in 1993 to end fierce competition and raise commissions charged to customers, an act that is illegal in most countries of the world, the Commission said.—Reuters
