The EU Commission has imposed fines against BMW and Volkswagen

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 exhaust gas cleaning, BMW is to pay almost 375 million euros, Volkswagen a good 500 million euros, as the commission announced. This does not fully exhaust the possible sentence. Theoretically, 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. 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," said a communication from the EU Commission. According to the Commission, the car manufacturers had held regular specialist meetings at which they discussed the development of the so-called SCR technology ("AdBlue"). At these meetings, the automobile manufacturers agreed, over a period of more than five years between 2009 and 2014, not to compete with each other for exhaust gas purification beyond the legal requirements - even though the technology required for this was available. Specifically, Daimler, BMW and the Volkswagen Group determined the sizes of the AdBlue tanks and exchanged sensitive information about them. According to the Commission, they thus "restrict competition for product features that are relevant to customers". Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche had the technology "with which the harmful emissions could be reduced beyond the requirements of the EU emission standards", explained the Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for competition policy. Volkswagen said that the group wanted to carefully examine the decision and, if necessary, appeal. Instead of a fine, issuing clear guidelines for cooperation between competitors would have been more productive, criticized the Wolfsburg-based company. With the procedure, Brussels had entered "new territory under antitrust law", announced BMW. 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.