EU Fined 4 German Automobile Companies $1-Billion Over Emission Collusion

On Thursday, 8^th July 2021, the European Union have handed down fines of one billion dollars to four major car manufacturing companies of Germany, by saying that, the companies have colluded for the purpose of stopping the development and development of the car emission control systems.

The European Commission said, the four automobile companies include Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi and Porsche have avoided for competing on the technology for restricting the pollution from the diesel and gasoline passenger cars. The company Daimler had not been fined after the company has revealed the cartel to the European Commission.

Margrethe Vestager, antitrust chief of European Union said, although the companies are having the technology for reducing the harmful emissions beyond the legal limits, which the automobile companies are going to compete and have also denied the consumers the chance for buying the less polluting cars.

Margrethe Vestager also said, the automobile companies are competing with each other also, when it comes to the decrease of the carbon emissions from the cars, and the four companies have been deliberately avoiding to compete on the cleaning better than, what had been require by the emission standards of the European Union, and the companies ignored the standards in spite of the relevant technology that was being available, which made the practice of the companies illegal.

For the first time, the European Commission has fined any company for the emission collusions on holding back the use of the new technological developments, which had not been a more traditional practice such as fixing the price.