European Commission
raids German car manufacturers
The European Commission has confirmed that on 23 October it
has carried out further unannounced inspection visits at the premises of German
car manufacturers. Daimler and Volkswagen
have confirmed that they have been raided.
The raids follow inspections in the German vehicle sector
made last week and where BMW has confirmed that it has been the target of an
inspection visit by the Commission.
The Commission has stated that it believes that the
manufacturers may have breached Article 101 TFEU.
Reports in the German media in the summer have speculated that
the manufacturers coordinated over the size and shape of car parts. There has
also been speculation that Daimler and Volkswagen applied for leniency some
time ago, although the recent raids suggest that the Commission has not rushed
to investigate the conduct at issue.
This might be due, in part, to the type of conduct under investigation
which may bear the hallmarks of legitimate cooperation over standardisation
rather than hardcore cartelisation.
Source: Commission STATEMENT/17/4103
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