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Thursday 28 March 2013

OFT issues five infringement decisions in the distribution of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles investigation

The OFT has issued the decisions that we have been expecting. Press release no 30/13 of 27 March 2013  says:
The OFT today issued decisions finding that Mercedes-Benz and five of its commercial vehicles dealers infringed competition law and has imposed fines totalling over £2.8 million.
Each of the five decisions relates to separate infringements that took place over different periods between March 2007 and January 2010, involving different parties. The nature of the infringements varies but all contain at least some element of market sharing, price co-ordination or the exchange of commercially sensitive information.
These decisions follow settlements with Ciceley, Enza, Mercedes-Benz and Road Range announced in February under which these parties admitted breaching the law and agreed to pay a fine and co-operate with the OFT. Northside, which also admitted infringing competition law, has avoided a fine under the OFT's leniency policy. The remaining dealer, H&L Garages, did not settle with the OFT and the two infringements it was involved in were not therefore part of settlement.
Today's announcement brings the OFT's investigation to a conclusion. The full decisions will be published on the OFT website later this year.
So we still don't get to see the details: this is merely a formality, as far as the outside world is concerned.

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