凱蒂貓（Hello Kitty）不僅是一個深受喜愛的卡通形象和品牌現(xiàn)象,。但這只45歲的小貓——或至少是她背后的日本公司三麗鷗（Sanrio）——可能違反了反壟斷政策,。

這是歐盟委員會的裁定。上周二,，它以破壞歐盟競爭規(guī)則為由,，對三麗鷗處以了620萬歐元（合700萬美元）的罰款。

歐盟的政策核心之一在于單一市場,，對那些試圖在歐盟成員國之間人為建立貿(mào)易壁壘的公司,，它通常不會手下留情。而三麗鷗就犯了禁,，公司強迫銷售其授權(quán)產(chǎn)品的零售商不得在歐盟內(nèi)進(jìn)行跨國銷售,。

歐盟委員會表示，三麗鷗的授權(quán)協(xié)議條款違反了規(guī)定,。這家公司旗下還持有美樂蒂兔（My Melody）,、巧克貓（Chococat）、大眼蛙（Keroppi）等角色以及奇先生,、妙小姐（Mr. Men and Little Miss）系列繪本的版權(quán),。

2008年至2018年間，三麗鷗的條款禁止授權(quán)商在本國領(lǐng)土之外銷售商品,，同時限制了在特定產(chǎn)品上可以使用的語言,。它甚至還通過審計的方式來確保授權(quán)商遵守這些條款。

歐盟競爭事務(wù)專員瑪格麗特·維斯塔格表示：“今天的決定證實了不得阻止銷售授權(quán)產(chǎn)品的貿(mào)易商在其他國家銷售產(chǎn)品,。此舉會導(dǎo)致減少消費者的選擇,，可能讓他們付出更高價格，也違反了歐盟的反壟斷規(guī)定,。無論是購買凱蒂貓的杯子還是巧克貓的玩具,，消費者如今都可以完全享受單一市場帶來的主要利好之一：在歐洲以最劃算的價格購買商品?！?/p>

按照歐盟委員會的話說,，如果三麗鷗不“在其法律義務(wù)之外與委員會展開合作”，這筆罰款可能遠(yuǎn)不止700萬美元,。為此,，這家日本公司的罰金減少了40%。

在本文撰寫期間，三麗鷗并未回應(yīng)置評請求,。

這次針對三麗鷗的反壟斷行動相當(dāng)及時,，因為很快就會有更多凱蒂貓的商品涌入歐洲。在四個月前,，三麗鷗宣布與新線電影公司（New Line Cinema）達(dá)成協(xié)議,，拍攝一部英語電影，按照歐盟委員會在上周二的形容,，其主角是個“擬人化的貓咪女孩,，她的全名叫Kitty White”。

不過,，這絕非歐盟委員會的競爭總署今年針對反單一市場策略開出的最大一張罰單,。今年3月，耐克（Nike）由于限制足球隊有關(guān)商品的跨國銷售,，被罰1,250萬歐元,。今年5月，維斯塔格又因為百威英博（AB InBev）阻止將朱皮爾啤酒（Jupiler）從荷蘭進(jìn)口到比利時,，以維持該啤酒在比利時的高價,，而對其采取驚人的2億歐元罰款。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

Hello Kitty isn’t just a much-beloved cartoon character and branding phenomenon. The 45-year-old kitten—or at least Sanrio, the Japanese company behind her—also turns out to be an antitrust violator.

That’s according to the European Commission, which on last Tuesday hit Sanrio with a €6.2 million ($7 million) fine for breaking the European Union’s competition rules.

One of the EU’s central planks is its single market, and it does not take kindly to companies that try to create artificial trading barriers between EU countries. That’s what Sanrio did here, by forcing retailers who sell its licensed products to avoid selling them across the EU’s internal borders.

Sanrio, which also holds the rights to characters such as My Melody, Chococat and Keroppi—as well as the Mr. Men and Little Miss lines—broke the rules through the terms in its licensing agreements, the Commission said.

From 2008 to 2018, the company’s terms forbade sales outside of the licensees’ national territories, and limited the languages that could be used on a particular product. It even carried out audits to make sure licensees were sticking to those terms.

“Today’s decision confirms that traders who sell licensed products cannot be prevented from selling products in a different country,” said Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “This leads to less choice and potentially higher prices for consumers and is against EU antitrust rules. Consumers, whether they are buying a Hello Kitty mug or a Chococat toy, can now take full advantage of one of the main benefits of the Single Market: the ability to shop around Europe for the best deals.”

The $7 million fine would have been much higher, had Sanrio not “cooperated with the Commission beyond its legal obligation to do so,” in the Commission’s words. The Japanese firm got a 40% discount for that.

Sanrio had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

The antitrust action against the company was rather timely, as there could soon be a lot more Hello Kitty merchandise out there. Four months ago, Sanrio announced a deal with New Line Cinema to develop an English-language movie featuring—as the Commission described her last Tuesday—the “anthropomorphic cat girl also known by her full name Kitty White.”

However, this was by no means the heftiest fine handed down by the Commission’s competition department for anti-single-market tactics this year. Nike was hit with a €12.5 million fine in March for limiting cross-border sales of soccer team merchandise, and in May Vestager whacked brewing giant AB InBev with a whopping €200 million fine for blocking imports of Jupiler beer from the Netherlands into Belgium, in order to maintain higher prices in the latter country.