Seki Furniture Faces JFTC Resale Price Maintenance Order
Summary
The Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a cease and desist order against Seki Furniture Co., Ltd. for violating Article 19 of the Antimonopoly Act through resale price maintenance of Ergohuman-branded chairs. The violation involved requiring retailers to sell at a reference price, monitoring online prices to identify discounted sales, and penalising non-compliant retailers by raising their shipment prices. Seki Furniture must immediately cease all conduct that maintains or restricts the retail price of Ergohuman products.
“In this case, Seki Furniture violated the provision of the Article 19 (falling under Article 2, paragraph (9), item (iv) [Resale Price Maintenance]) of the Act.”
Manufacturers that condition transactions on retailer pricing commitments, monitor online prices to identify discounting, or adjust shipment terms for non-compliant retailers face direct enforcement exposure under Article 19 of Japan's Antimonopoly Act. Retailers selling products subject to reference pricing should be aware that reporting competitor discounting to the manufacturer may contribute to a RPM violation finding.
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GovPing monitors Japan JFTC News (EN) for new consumer protection regulatory changes. Every update since tracking began is archived, classified, and available as free RSS or email alerts — 3 changes logged to date.
What changed
The Japan Fair Trade Commission determined that Seki Furniture violated Article 19 of the Antimonopoly Act (falling under Article 2, paragraph (9), item (iv) — Resale Price Maintenance) by compelling retailers to sell Ergohuman chairs at a JFTC-specified reference price. The violations consisted of three conduct elements: (1) requiring new retailers to commit to reference-price sales as a condition of initiating Ergohuman transactions, (2) monitoring online sales prices and receiving retailer complaints to identify below-reference-price sales, and (3) raising shipment prices for retailers who continued discounted sales despite requests to comply.\n\nRetailers and manufacturers in Japan should review their pricing policies and monitoring practices to ensure they do not inadvertently engage in resale price maintenance. A manufacturer that conditions business relationships on retailer pricing commitments, monitors discount activity, or adjusts terms for non-compliant retailers faces similar enforcement exposure under Japan's Antimonopoly Act.
What to do next
- Cease and desist from resale price maintenance of Ergohuman chairs
Archived snapshot
Apr 23, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
December 19, 2024
Japan Fair Trade Commission
The Japan Fair Trade Commission today issued a cease and desist order against Seki Furniture Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Seki Furniture”) pursuant to the provisions of the Antimonopoly Act (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”).
In this case, Seki Furniture violated the provision of the Article 19 (falling under Article 2, paragraph (9), item (iv) [Resale Price Maintenance]) of the Act.
Outline of Violations
Seki Furniture engaged in the following actions to compel its retailers to sell chairs marked with the Ergohuman trademark (hereinafter referred to as “Ergohuman”) at a retail price specified by Seki Furniture referred to as the reference price (hereinafter referred to as the “reference price”), no later than February 2020.
(1) Based on its policy of selling Ergohuman only to retailers who agreed to sell them at the reference price, Seki Furniture required new retailers to commit to this condition when initiating transactions involving Ergohuman. Furthermore, whenever the reference price for Ergohuman was increased, Seki Furniture ensured that retailers selling Ergohuman agreed to sell the products at the updated reference price.
(2) By monitoring the online sales prices of Ergohuman offered by its retailers and receiving complaints from these retailers about other retailers selling Ergohuman below the reference price (hereinafter referred to as “discounted sales”), Seki Furniture identified retailers engaging in discounted sales. In such cases, Seki Furniture requested the identified retailers to comply with the reference price when selling Ergohuman.
(3) Seki Furniture implemented measures such as raising the shipment price of Ergohuman for retailers who continued to engage in discounted sales despite the aforementioned requests.
- This announcement is a tentative translation. Please refer to the original text written in Japanese.
The JFTC Issued a Cease and Desist Order to Seki Furniture Co., Ltd.
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