Brussels, 16/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has imposed a fine of € 2.56 million on musical instruments manufacturer Yamaha for violating European Union competition rules. Yamaha sells under a selective distribution system a whole range of traditional and electronic musical instruments and equipment in Europe, such as pianos, electronic organs, guitars, saxophones and violins. The company is the European market leader for most musical instruments. The Commission concluded that Yamaha entered into agreements or concerted practices aimed at partitioning the market and fixing resale prices in certain Member States: in Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and Iceland. The restrictions took different forms at different times and in different countries. They included, for example, fixing of resale prices and obligations on official dealers to sell only to final customers; obligations on official dealers to purchase exclusively from the Yamaha subsidiaries; obligations on official dealers to contact Yamaha before exporting via the Internet. Although the Commission qualified the infringement as serious, some of the contractual provisions were applied to only a limited number of dealers and products, were not systematically included in all Yamaha agreements throughout the EEA and have not been simultaneously implemented. The fact that Yamaha swiftly terminated most of the restrictions and took steps to redesign its distribution system helped the company. At the end of the 2002-2003 tax year Yamaha obtained net profits of YEN 17.95 bio out of a turnover of YEN 524.7 bio.