The European Commission has fined U.S. sportswear maker Nike Inc €12.5 million ($14.2 million) for anti-competitive practices that prevented traders from selling merchandise branded with leading soccer clubs' logos outside their national markets.

Margrethe Vestager, the E.U.'s antitrust czar, said the conditions the company imposed on merchants preventing them from selling soccer jerseys and other merchandise throughout the EU led to "less choice and higher prices for consumers". The commission's decision would ensure that consumers will be able to shop around for a "larger variety of products and for the best deals", she said.

The fine follows an investigation by the commission into Nike's licensing and distribution practices, which was launched in June 2017. The investigation looked at arrangements where Nike was granting licences to manufacturers to make goods using trademarks and copyrights of some of Europe's biggest soccer clubs, including Barcelona, Manchester United and AS Roma.

Nike's main business is designing and selling sportswear but it also acts as a licensor, meaning it can grant licences to third parties to manufacture merchandise such as mugs, scarves and keyrings, featuring soccer clubs' logos.

The commission found that Nike had used a series of measures to prevent licensees from selling their goods outside their national markets. This is illegal under E.U. competition rules, which guarantee the rights of businesses to sell their goods and services freely anywhere in the E.U.'s 28 member countries.

These measures included clauses banning out-of-territory sales outright, requiring licensees to consult Nike, or imposing double royalties for sales outside merchants' home markets. In some cases, licensees were threatened with losing their contracts if they broke the clauses restricting them to their home market.

This practice went on for 13 years, the commission found.

The commission reduced the total fine by 40 percent because Nike had cooperated in the investigation beyond its legal obligations, by providing information that allowed the scope of the investigation to be extended.

Businesses and consumers have the right to pursue compensation for damages through their national courts.