EU Commission: 875 million cartel fine for BMW and VW

They are said to have illegally agreed on a technology for exhaust gas purification: The EU Commission has obliged the German carmakers BMW and Volkswagen to pay millions in fines because of cartel formation.

The EU Commission has imposed competition fines in the millions against the two German car manufacturers BMW and Volkswagen. They are said to have made illegal agreements about the size of tanks for the “AdBlue” fuel additive. This has restricted competition in the field of exhaust gas cleaning, explained the EU Commission.

“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,” announced the EU Commission.

Mutual agreements made over the years

According to the EU Commission, the car manufacturers should have agreed at specialist meetings between 2009 and 2014 not to fall below the legal requirements for exhaust gas purification in order not to compete with one another. For example, the companies agreed on the size of the AdBlue tanks. In this way, the companies would have “restricted competition for product features that are relevant to customers”.

The car manufacturers BMW, VW, Daimler as well as Porsche and Audi had the technology they needed to reduce “harmful emissions beyond the requirements of the EU emissions standards”, criticized the Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for competition policy. With the help of the mutual agreements, however, the corporations would have “avoided competition to use the full potential of this technology in order to clean better than the law provides”.

Vestager emphasized that “competition and innovation” are crucial building blocks in order to implement the climate targets set by the EU in the form of the so-called Green Deal. With the penalties that have now been imposed, the EU is making it clear “that we will take decisive action against all forms of antitrust violations that endanger this goal”.

Daimler is also involved, but remains unpunished

BMW is to pay just under 375 million euros, Volkswagen a good 500 million euros. The possible sentence is not fully exhausted. In theory, payments of up to ten percent of annual sales can be due.

BMW had already announced its approval of a settlement in advance. In 2019, the manufacturer formed a provision of 1.4 billion euros due to the allegations. In May of this year, however, around one billion euros of this was dissolved again because the commission had completely dropped certain allegations against BMW.

Daimler was also involved in the agreements, but as the third party in the league, it does not have to pay anything because the Stuttgart-based company was the first to make itself available as a key witness – otherwise 727 million euros would have been due.