London: Samsung and Philips were recently raided by the European Commission inspectors, including several other consumer electronics companies, over restricting online sales.

The Commission said that the raid was conducted as it believed these firms had planned to restrict online availability of some products in a bid to curb competition violating the EU antitrust rules that prohibit anticompetitive agreements, the BBC reports.

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According to the report, the commission was concerned as restricting supply could lead to higher consumer prices or the unavailability of products through certain online sales channels.

The European consumer electronics retailer, Media-Saturn, was also raided, the report added. Meanwhile, both Samsung and Philips said that they were co-operating with the EU authorities. The companies could face fines equivalent to 10 percent of global annual turnover, if found guilty, the report added.