EU Slaps $1 Billion Fine on Volkswagen, BMW in Antitrust Case
08 Luglio 2021 - 11:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Mauro Orru
The European Union has imposed a fine of 875.19 million euros
($1.03 billion) on Volkswagen AG and BMW AG for restricting
competition in emission cleaning for new diesel passenger cars.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said
Thursday that Daimler AG, BMW and Volkswagen, which owns Audi and
Porsche, colluded on the technical development in the area of
nitrogen oxide cleaning, breaching EU antitrust rules.
However, Daimler eluded the fine since it revealed the existence
of the cartel to the commission.
"The five car manufacturers Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and
Porsche possessed the technology to reduce harmful emissions beyond
what was legally required under EU emission standards. But they
avoided to compete on using this technology's full potential to
clean better than what is required by law," Executive
Vice-President of the Commission Margrethe Vestager said.
All car makers acknowledged their involvement in the cartel and
agreed to settle the case.
BMW said in a statement that the EU's investigation only
concerned possible infringements of competition law, with no
indication of collusion relating to the use of prohibited defeat
devices to manipulate exhaust gas tests.
"This underlines that there has never been any allegation of
unlawful manipulation of emission control systems by the BMW
Group," the company said.
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 08, 2021 05:37 ET (09:37 GMT)
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