European Commission finds German automakers illegally colluded on emissions technology

[nitpicker]

https://www.dw.com/en/european-commission-finds-german-automakers-illegally-colluded-on-emissions-technology/a-48218578

European Commission finds German automakers illegally colluded on emissions technology

Date 05.04.2019

German car manufacturing giants Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW illegally colluded to hinder competition on emission cleaning technology, the European Commission said on Friday. The initial findings from an investigation carried out by EU's antitrust regulators came nearly two years after authorities carried out raids on their headquarters.

What the Commission found:
From 2006 to 2014, the three German automakers conspired to limit the development and roll-out of emission cleaning technology for passenger cars sold in Europe.
The talks were aimed at restricting competition and "breached EU antitrust rules."
Two types of technology specifically were restricted: one to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel cars, and another to reduce harmful particulate matter from petrol engine cars.
The companies "denied consumers the opportunity to buy less polluting cars" despite the technology being available.

EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy, said EU antitrust authorities were concerned that VW, BMW and Daimler purposefully restricted their customer's access to the best technology.

"Companies can cooperate in many ways to improve the quality of their products. However, EU competition rules do not allow them to collude on exactly the opposite: not to improve their products, not to compete on quality," Vestager said in a statement.
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