Luxembourg, 15/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of First Instance has slashed the fine imposed by the European Commission on DaimlerChrysler for restricting parallel trade in Mercedes Benz vehicles from EUR 71,825,000 to EUR 9,800,000, annulling the Commission's decision in so far as it accuses DaimlerChrysler of anti-competitive conduct in Germany and Spain, but upholds the decision with respect to its conduct in Belgium, explains a press release.
The Court of First Instance found that DaimlerChrysler, through its Belgian subsidiarity, has participated in an 'anti-price-slashing' agreement with the Belgian dealers. The agreement was intended to restrict price competition in Belgium by introducing detection and deterrent measures against discounts of more than 3% of the E-class car. With respect to DaimlerChrysler's conduct in Spain, the Court found that under Spanish law, every leasing company must already have an identified customer for the leasing contract at the time of acquiring the vehicle and the restrictions therefore do not run contrary to the prohibition of agreements in the EC Treaty. With respect to DaimlerChrysler's conduct in Germany, the Court recalls that while the EC Treaty prohibits coordinated anti-competitive conduct by two or more undertakings, the unilateral conduct of a manufacturer is not covered by the prohibition and the Court found that DaimlerChrysler acted unilaterally. The German agents had to be assimilated to employees of DaimlerChrysler and regarded as integrated into DaimlerChrysler and forming an economic unit with it, explains the Court.
By its decision of 10 October 2001, the European Commission found that DaimlerChrysler had, itself or through its Belgian and Spanish subsidiaries, infringed the EU competition rules by signing agreements with its distributors in Germany, Belgium and Spain on retail sales of the Mercedes Benz make, and fined DaimlerChrysler a total of EUR 71,825,000.