Scania loses price-fixing appeal

Colin Barnett
February 3, 2022

Scania has lost the latest round in its appeal against the fine of €880.5m (£733.5m) imposed by the European Commission in 2017. The fine, imposed specifically on Scania AB, Scania CV AB and Scania Deutschland GmbH, relates to the charges of being part of a price fixing cartel over 14 years. In particular, the charges covered the timing and matching of costs relating to meeting the ongoing emissions standards from Euro-3 to Euro-6, with the main focus of the investigation being on the German market.
It will be recalled that an 18-month OFT investigation into truck price fixing in the UK, which included the arrest of one importer’s managing director, was dropped in February 2012, with the information gathered passed on to the EC. However, there’s no indication that this information featured in any EC court proceedings.
The European Commission originally found that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF broke EU antitrust rules, which the manufacturers accepted. MAN, which originally blew the whistle on the cartel, escaped a potential €1.2bn (£1.0bn) fine but the remaining truck makers received fines totalling €2.9bn (£2.4bn)
Scania, however contested the decision, but in 2017 was found liable for a fine of €880.5m, which it has so far refused to pay, having appealed the decision. Its appeal was based on nine separate legal points. However, the EU General Court in Luxembourg has now upheld the original finding and dismissed the entire appeal. As well as remaining liable for the fine, the court also ordered that Scania be responsible for its own costs and those of the court.
Scania now has the option of one final appeal on points of law to the European Court of Justice. At the time of writing, Scania was analysing the court’s verdict before deciding whether to take that step and had no further comment to add.

About the Author

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Colin Barnett

Colin Barnett has been involved in the road transport industry since becoming an apprentice truck mechanic and worked on Commercial Motor for 27 years

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