Toys 'R' Us has agreed to pay a $1.3 million penalty for violating a 1998 order that barred it from pushing suppliers to refuse to sell to competitors or from urging limits to those sales, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

The FTC said in a complaint that Toys 'R' Us subsidiary Babies 'R' Us had asked suppliers what they were charging discounters and complained to them about discounts that other retailers were giving consumers, the FTC said.

The 1998 order had barred Toys 'R' Us from asking about discounts and required it to keep records of communications with suppliers if they related to sales and distribution. The FTC also said that Toys 'R' Us failed to keep those records.

Toys 'R' Us had no immediate comment on the FTC release.

Although we did not find evidence that Toys 'R' Us entered into agreements with the suppliers that violated the order, the penalty here underscores the importance of parties complying fully with all of their order obligations, said Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

FTC