German car manufacturers have colluded illegally and have now received a million-dollar fine from the EU Commission. However, most of the allegations had previously been dropped.
The EU Commission has imposed competition fines in the three-digit million range against the two German car manufacturers BMW and Volkswagen.
Because of illegal agreements on so-called Adblue tanks for better emission control, BMW is to pay almost 375 million euros, Volkswagen a good 500 million euros, as the commission announced on Thursday. Adblue tanks hold special urea solutions in newer generation of catalytic converters in diesel cars. The mixtures ensure more efficient exhaust gas cleaning and thus a reduction in harmful nitrogen oxide emissions. “All companies have admitted their participation in the cartel and agreed to a settlement”, it said in a communication from the EU Commission.
This means that the possible sentence is not fully exhausted. In theory, payments of up to ten percent of annual sales can be due. Daimler was also involved in the cartel, but benefits from a leniency program and remains unpunished.
BMW announced on Thursday that Brussels had entered “uncharted territory” in terms of antitrust law. The subject of the investigation was not price or area agreements – nevertheless, the EU Commission applied the standards of such a “classic” cartel when calculating the fine and only considered the novelty of the case by means of a discount. Despite the allegations that have largely been dropped, this approach leads to the amount of the fine that has now been set.
The Board of Management agreed to this fine with the present settlement. BMW had already promised this when the group had reduced the provisions for a penalty.
In 2019, BMW had set aside a provision of 1.4 billion euros due to the allegations, of which around one billion euros were already dissolved in May of this year because the Commission had completely dropped certain allegations against BMW.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
