usatoday24
The European Commission has imposed A sanction of 458 million euros to 15 car manufacturers for its involvement in an illegal pact on recycling. Paradoxically, the scandal was uncovered thanks to Mercedes-Benz, who participated in the framework, but when exposing him to European regulators he obtained total immunity.
A pact not to compete. According to the commissionthe manufacturers involved agreed two key practices. On the one hand, not paying vehicle dismantlers, starting from the idea that recycling was a profitable enough business to not have to remunerate it. They did it under a strategy that they baptized as “zero treatment cost.”
On the other, they agreed not to make public data on the percentage of recyclability of their vehicles or on the amount of recycled materials used in the manufacture of new cars. The objective was to prevent this information from generating competitive pressure between brands or expectations among consumers.
The infraction. These practices went against the Directive 2000/53/CE On vehicles out of use, which establishes that the last owner must be able to deliver his car to a drain without any cost. If necessary, it is the manufacturers themselves who must assume that expense, in addition to adequately informing the recycling and reuse data.
The detail of the fines imposed by the EU. The highest sanction has been for Volkswagen, with 127.7 million euros. They are followed by Renault/Nissan with 81 million, and Stellantis with almost 75 million. Toyota, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, GM, Suzuki, Mazda and Volvo also appear on the list, with amounts ranging between 1 and 25 million euros.
The ACEA (European Association of Automobile Manufacturers) has also been sanctioned, in this case with a fine of 500,000 euros. The investigation concluded that it acted as a facilitator of the Pact, having organized numerous meetings and coordinated contacts between the manufacturers involved.
Mercedes-Benz is fought from fines. Although he participated in the illegal agreement, Mercedes-Benz has not been fined. It was the company that went to the commission in 2019 and activated the clemency program, revealing the existence of the cartel and providing key evidence. If he had not done it, he would have faced a penalty of 35 million euros.
Stellantis, Mitsubishi and Ford also subsequently collaborated, which allowed them to obtain reductions in their fines under the same procedure.
A pact that crossed borders. The European Commission did not act alone. The investigation was coordinated with the United Kingdom competence authority (CMA), which announced additional sanctions for more than 77 million pounds (about 92 million euros). Among those fined by the British competence authority are Ford and Volkswagen.
Challenging times. The news does not arrive at the best time for the sector. The European car industry is under pressure, partly because of the accelerated growth of the sector in China, which threatens to change the global balance. To that are added commercial tensions with the United States, which recently announced new vehicle import tariffs.
In the words of Teresa Ribera. The Spanish Commissioner who leads the competition efforts in the European Commission has left a forceful statement: “Today we have taken energetic measures against the companies that were conspired to prevent competition in recycling.” Along these lines, he pointed out that they will not tolerate this type of practices.
Images | Yunus Yildiz | Sara Kurfeß | Olga Nayda
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