Pear is a multinational manufacturer of computer hardware and electronics products, having its headquarters in France. It distributes its products in Europe via independent distributors.
After Pear finds out that many of its distributors offer significant discounts, it decides to recommend a resale price, aiming at keeping the retail price stable. Pear regularly monitors the selling price. It informs its distributors that they are expected not to sell below the recommended price.
In addition, Pear decides to contact distributors that are not complying with the recommended price level, asking them to increase the price. Distributors that repeatedly did not observe the recommended resale price level, were threatened and sanctioned.
Which conditions could Pear be found to infringe Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union? Please provide detailed reasoning for your answer.
