The Commission’s investigation revealed that, for over 15 years, 16 major car manufacturers (including Mercedes, which was not fined) and ACEA entered into anticompetitive agreements and engaged in concerted practices related to the recycling of ELVs.
In particular, the Commission found that the parties colluded on two aspects:
- they agreed not to pay car dismantlers for processing ELVs. In particular, they agreed to consider the recycling of ELVs to be a sufficiently profitable business, and therefore not to remunerate car dismantlers for their services (so-called “Zero-Treatment-Cost” strategy). The companies also shared commercially sensitive information on their individual agreements with car dismantlers and coordinated their behaviour towards dismantlers;
- they agreed not to promote how much of an ELV can be recycled, recovered and reused and how much recycled material is used in new cars. Their goal was to prevent consumers from considering recycling information when choosing a car, which could lower the pressure on companies to go beyond legal requirements.
The investigation found that ACEA was the facilitator of the cartel, having organised numerous meetings and contacts between car manufacturers involved in the cartel.
The Commission’s investigation revealed the existence of a single and continuous infringement in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’), spanning over 15 years, from 29 May 2002 to 4 September 2017.
The fines were set on the basis of the Commission’s 2006 Guidelines on fines. In setting the fines, the Commission took into account various elements, including the number of cars concerned by the infringement, the nature of the infringement, its geographic scope and its duration. When setting the fine, the Commission also took into account the lesser involvement in the infringement of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Suzuki. It also granted a reduction to Renault, since evidence showed that Renault had explicitly asked for an exemption from the agreement not to advertise the use of recycled material in new cars.
Four companies cooperated with the Commission under the leniency programme:
- Mercedes-Benz received full immunity for revealing the cartel, avoiding a fine of around €35 million;
- Stellantis (including Opel), Mitsubishi and Ford benefited from a reduction of the fine for their cooperation with the Commission. The amount of reduction granted depends on the timing of their cooperation as well as to the evidence they provided to prove the existence of the cartel. All three received the maximum reduction that is foreseen under the Leniency Notice in case of multiple leniency applicants.
In addition, under the Commission’s 2008 Settlement Notice, the Commission applied a reduction of 10% to the fines on all parties, as they acknowledged their participation in the cartel and their liability.
The fine of ACEA, for its facilitating role, is set as a lump sum. The fine takes into account that all car producers, which are members of ACEA, have been fined individually.
