Hello, welcome back to Brussels for another MLEX podcast. I'm James Panicki, Mlex's Brussels managing editor,

and have your credit card at the ready today because we're talking about what you might have assumed

was your God-given right to order luxury goods from a European Internet portal. Well, not so fast,

at least that's the take of an opinion prepared for the EU's highest

court. The non-binding opinion by a Court of Justice Advocate General has argued that the supplier

of luxury goods can impose restrictions on how the products are sold online. In other words,

they can limit the availability of their goods to online

portals to defend the high-end reputation of those products. The opinion takes aside of

Cote, a German supplier of perfume and cosmetics against German regulators who say that

these restrictions create competition problems. Now, these are very much first world problems, I hear you say,

sure. But the Cote Luxury Goods dispute has brought to the fore a number of issues relating to

how online platforms sell goods and the effects of attempts to restrict the operation of those platforms.

So it goes beyond perfume, quality shoes and handbags.

Matthew Newman is a senior correspondent at Emlex who writes about competition issues.

He's someone whose Spartan lifestyle and propensity to run marathons would not suggest a natural inclination for the purchase of luxury goods online.

Yet he has been watching this case like a hawk.

Hello, Matthew.

Hello, James. Now let's take a few steps back. Firstly, why do the makers of luxury goods? online yet he has been watching this case like a hawk hello Matthew hello James now

let's take a few steps back firstly why do the makers of luxury goods in Europe object to

some of their products being sold online yeah it's all about their prestigious image

these brands have spent billions of euros not exaggerating building up over

decades a prestigious brand

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