VW Group and BMW are fined €875m (£752m) by the ECU Commission for colluding to curb the employment of emissions cleaning technology. Daimler, which was a component of the talks but blew the whistle on them, escaped without a fine. The companies had agreed to not implement quite basic EU standards, the Commission said. However, VW said that the contents of the discussions weren’t implemented, which customers weren’t harmed. The carmaker said it had been considering appealing against the selection. This type of fine may be a primary for the EU Commission, which normally imposes competition penalties for price-fixing and market sharing, rather than technical cooperation. The Commission said BMW, Daimler, and three VW Group brands – Audi, Porsche, and VW – had “illegally colluded to limit competition” in diesel emissions cleaning. Specifically, it said the firms had regular meetings for five years thanks to reducing emissions of a pollutant, an exhaust gas harmful to people and so the environment. The firms developed ‘AdBlue’, a liquid additive to point out oxide into harmless water and nitrogen. However, while the carmakers knew that injecting more AdBlue into streams of exhaust gas may lead to simpler cleaning, they indicated to each other that none of them would aim above the minimum legal standards, the Commission said. They agreed on sizes of AdBlue tanks and ranges, and exchanged sensitive information on planned tank sizes and AdBlue consumption in future models, it added. “In today’s world, polluting less may be a vital characteristic of any car,” the Commission said. “And this cartel geared toward restricting competition on this key parameter.” VW said the Commission was “imposing fines while the contents of the talks were never implemented and customers were therefore never harmed.” It said the tank sizes and ranges that were put into cars were two to three times over those discussed. “The Commission is breaking new legal ground with this decision because it is the primary time it’s prosecuted technical cooperation as an antitrust violation,” a spokesman said. Instead of a fine, it’d are better for the car industry if the ECU Commission had “issued clear guidelines describing how cooperation in research and development is structured during the simplest way that complies with antitrust law”, VW added. “The large fines imposed during this case underscore the necessity for more comprehensive practical guidance from the Commission to substantiate that legal uncertainties don’t become an obstacle to innovation in Europe,” the carmaker said. “Volkswagen will carefully review today’s decision once served so decide whether to appeal, if necessary,” it added, saying that it’s until mid-September to bring any action before the ECU Court in Luxembourg. The case is separate from the so-called “dieselgate” emissions-cheating scandal. BMW said the Commission had cleared it of suspicion of using illegal “defeat devices” to cheat emissions tests. “This underlines that there has never been any allegation of unlawful manipulation of emission control systems by the BMW Group,” BMW said.
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