By Bryan Koenig and Matthew Perlman

Law360 (March 6, 2020, 8:26 PM EST) -- Consumer protection and antitrust enforcers around the world are reacting to growing concern over COVID-19 by warning against price-gouging, with statements against a variety of practices such as canceling contracts to drive up demand and demanding that customers buy other goods alongside surgical masks.

Here, Law360 provides a roundup of some of the key points of concern for international antitrust enforcers that have put out public statements about tackling some of the man-made side effects of the new coronavirus, with the number of confirmed cases reported per country by the World Health Organization as of Friday.

U.S. (148 cases)

Even though the U.S. has no federal statute barring price-gouging, lawmakers have weighed in on the issue anyway. Some states and local governments, however, do have restrictions and have warned businesses not to cross the line.

The lack of federal restrictions has caused uncertainty before. For instance, a Federal Trade Commission official explained to Congress during a 2005 hearing following spikes in gasoline prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that there's little the agency can do about price-gouging. "Under the antitrust laws, a seller with lawfully acquired market power — including market power arising from an act of God — can charge any price the market will bear," the official said.

Subsequent reports from the agency into the Katrina incident found that the price increases were due to market forces, not anti-competitive conduct.

With the coronavirus outbreak, statements from federal enforcers in the U.S. have focused largely on fraud and deceptive advertising, as scammers look to take advantage of consumer fears.

Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., is one elected official who's warned businesses not to spike prices dramatically, and he fired off a letter to Amazon.com Inc. on Wednesday, pointing to media reports of price-gouging on the platform, including packages of hand sanitizer being listed for $400, instead of the usual $10. Markey praised the e-commerce giant for having already removed thousands of listings but said reports of price-gouging persist and that a lack of transparency is "leaving consumers exposed to unfair trade practices."

The letter asks Amazon to explain how it determines if coronavirus-based price-gouging is occurring and how high prices must be for the company to consider them unfair. It also asks how many warnings Amazon has issued to sellers over the issue and how many listings it has removed or suspended.

Amazon answered Markey's letter on Friday, saying "there is no place for price-gouging" on the platform. The company said it has removed 530,000 offers for coronavirus-based price-gouging so far, that it has suspended more than 2,500 seller accounts in the U.S. and that it's working with state enforcers to prosecute some of the offenders.

"We will not tolerate attempts by bad actors to artificially raise prices on basic-need products during a global health crisis," Amazon said in its response. "It is unconscionable."

Some state and local statutes in the U.S. do contain price-gouging restrictions, and enforcers in those jurisdictions with reported cases of the virus have been actively alerting consumers about the potential for unfair pricing, in addition to consumer fraud scams.

In Washington state, where the first U.S. case was confirmed, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Wednesday that his office is investigating instances of price-gouging, but declined to identify the targets of the probe.

New York Attorney General Letitia James issued guidance Thursday providing consumers with resources, warning of the potential for fraud and said the office would be "actively monitoring retailers for potential incidents of price-gouging of necessary goods."

The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection declared a temporary shortage on face masks Wednesday to prevent stores from price-gouging. Under city regulation, stores selling goods declared in short supply are prohibited from pricing excessively, requiring minimum-purchase quantities and tying the products to other items.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Wednesday. During a news conference, he also noted instances of hand sanitizer being priced excessively online and praised Amazon for its response to price-gouging on its platform.

But he said enforcers have to go after those that are charging "unconscionable" prices for medical supplies and other equipment. The proclamation issued to declare the state of emergency, Newsom said, "substantively allows for that to be addressed with the kind of urgency that is appropriate at the moment."

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra followed up on Newsom's announcement with an alert saying that price-gouging is illegal in the state when an emergency has been declared. The law applies to those who sell food, emergency supplies, medical supplies, building materials and gasoline, as well as those that provide emergency cleanup services, transportation and hotel accommodations, according to Becerra's statement.

China (80,710 cases)

At the epicenter of the outbreak, China's State Administration of Market Supervision, or SAMR, which has an extremely wide mandate that also includes food safety, has a webpage dedicated to making announcements about COVID-19. They range from a directive for regional offices to play a technical support role in certifying protective medical equipment to a crackdown on illegal wildlife trading, at least in part to quarantine animals. (Animal to human transmission is believed to be a possible cause of the contagion.)

One early February announcement urged local authorities to take a number of steps, including strict pricing supervision. Pricing supervision, SAMR said, should extend beyond masks to include the entire supply chain as well as raw materials.

South Korea (6,284 cases)

Korea's Fair Trade Commission has put out a variety of warnings as the country grapples with COVID-19, most with a consumer protection focus.

In one notice, the KFTC warned about marketing practices that could contribute to the instability of mask supply, namely through cosmetics sellers and other vendors offering masks as a free promotion alongside their other goods. In another, the agency warned six vendors who'd exaggerated car air purifier claims and cautioned consumers not to make purchases based on unverified claims.

Italy (3,858 cases)

Italy's Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato late last month requested information on how online platforms are marketing hand sanitizers and masks. The enforcer said it had received multiple complaints over price hikes and deceptive claims of product effectiveness to combat the outbreak, which has hit Italy the hardest among European countries.

The AGCM gave firms three days to explain measures they would take to eliminate advertising that could deceive customers about product efficacy, as well as actions against disproportionate and unjustified price spikes.

France (420 cases)

The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention announced price controls Friday imposing limits for how much vendors can charge for hand sanitizer to avoid "speculation." France's digital minister has also tweeted out a warning for consumers to be aware of online scams selling expired masks and fake medicines.

Japan (349 cases)

The Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a warning late last month about companies that had forced customers who wanted to buy masks to pick up other products as well. Future tying conduct would not be permitted, the agency said, warning that it could amount to an unfair trading method.

United Kingdom (118 cases)

British antitrust enforcers with the Competition and Markets Authority said Thursday that they're intent on ensuring that merchants don't "exploit the current situation to take advantage of people." The CMA said it would watch for, and take action when necessary, against violations of consumer protection or antitrust law "for example by charging excessive prices or making misleading claims about the efficacy of protective equipment."

The CMA also said it would consider whether to propose that the British government regulate prices directly.

Poland (1 case)

Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, known by its Polish acronym UOKiK, said Wednesday that it had initiated proceedings to investigate a pair of wholesalers accused of canceling hospital supply contracts for personal protective gear to spike prices, particularly for surgical masks.

"We will check whether the wholesalers which terminate contracts with hospitals do not violate the competition law, including through abuse of a dominant position or price-fixing," UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny said in a statement. "Termination of contracts with hospitals in order to raise the price or sell products on the market instead of supplying them to medical establishments under previously concluded contracts is not only shameful but also contrary to the law."

--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.