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The antitrust agency of the European Union said Tuesday it had opened a formal investigation into the "possible collusion" between leading German car manufacturers to limit the development of technologies that can reduce harmful emissions of exhaust fumes .
The European Commission, the antitrust regulator of the European Union, has declared that it opened the investigation after having carried out inspections in October 2017 in the German premises of
BMW
AG
BMW 0.76%
,
Daimler
AG
DMLRY 0.22%
,
Volkswagen
AG
VOW3 3.61%
and his
Audi
subsidiary company. The inspections were motivated by reports that automakers participated in meetings where they discussed the development and deployment of technologies to limit emissions.
The investigation comes after several scandals involving European car manufacturers cheating on emission tests. While examining several channels of collusion, the commission said on Tuesday that it had "no indication that the parties were coordinating with the use of illegal defeat devices to fool regulatory tests."
However, the antitrust regulator has found sufficient evidence to open a formal proceeding against the three car manufacturers that would be accused of limiting the development and deployment of two emission systems: "selective catalytic reduction systems" that reduce harmful emissions and "Otto" particulate filters, which reduce emissions of harmful particles from gasoline-powered cars.
"If proven, this collusion may have prevented consumers from buying cleaner cars, although the technology is available to manufacturers," said EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager.
BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler have confirmed the investigation and have declared cooperating with the Commission. Daimler said the probe was exclusively limited to Europe. Both Daimler and BMW, in their statements, emphasized that launching a formal investigation was not a final assessment of the violation.
EU rules prohibit agreements and concerted practices that may affect trade and prevent or restrict competition.
While the commission would not speculate on the amount of any fine that the three car manufacturers are facing, the commission has imposed a total fine of 3.8 billion euros on six European truck manufacturers, including Daimler, for the last two years. . One of the charges was collusion aimed at delaying the introduction of emission technologies for trucks.
Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to have installed nearly 11 million diesel vehicles with software that allowed them to cheat on emissions tests.
Last year, Volkswagen asked EU regulators to monitor decades of possible coordination efforts by the country's major automakers. At the time, BMW denied that it had created diesel engines with its competitors to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
– Ruth Bender and William Boston contributed to this article.
Write to Valentina Pop at [email protected]
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