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By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS: BMW and Volkswagen are set to face a reduction in EU antitrust fines for clean air technology after regulators narrowed the scope of an investigation, a person familiar with the matter said.
The case is different from Volkswagen’s diesel emissions fraud scandal, which cost it more than € 31 billion ($ 38 billion) in fines and settlements.
The European Commission, which accused German automakers in 2019 of colluding to block the deployment of clean emissions technology, is expected to issue fines before the summer recess, the person told Reuters on Tuesday.
The EU’s competition watchdog had previously said the case concerned the ‘circle of five’, namely BMW, Daimler and the Volkswagen Group’s VW, Audi and Porsches.
The EU case will focus only on Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems, which reduce nitrogen oxides from diesel car emissions by injecting urea (also known as AdBlue) into the gas stream. exhaust, the person said.
The Commission said in its 2019 indictment bulletin that German car manufacturers agreed to restrict the size of AdBlue tanks between 2006 and 2014.
EU regulators have dismissed earlier claims that the group delayed new, cleaner particulate filters for gasoline cars from 2009 to 2014.
The Commission said the investigation was ongoing and declined to comment further.
BMW and Volkswagen declined to comment. BMW last week cut its antitrust provisions by € 1 billion after estimating a lower European fine.
Daimler, who alerted the Commission to the wrongdoing, reiterated she would not face a fine and declined to comment.
