Cartels 2025

EU Trends and Developments Contributed by: Andrzej Kmiecik, Richard Burton and Catherine Gordley, Van Bael & Bellis

investigatory powers to detect cartels, particu - larly in ex officio investigations. Sustainability: Promoting the Circular Economy The EU’s Green Deal has set the European economy on the course of decarbonisation and stricter environmental standards in the coming decades and, as reflected in President Von der Leyen’s mission letter to Commissioner Rib - era, competition policy tools are expected to play their part in achieving this objective. Most obviously, against the backdrop of tighter envi - ronmental standards, the Commission can be expected to take action to ensure that compa - nies do not collude to frustrate legally mandated environmental goals or to avoid improving their performance beyond those goals. The Commission has already set significant prec - edents in this area in the recent past. In its 2021 decision in the Car Emissions case, the Commis - sion imposed stiff fines on five automotive man - ufacturers after finding that they had colluded to limit competition in relation to emission-cleaning technologies for diesel cars. Here, manufactur - ers had co-operated to develop and bring to market a catalytic technology to reduce harmful emissions from diesel cars, in order to comply with EU-mandated standards. The Commission did not object to this environmentally benefi - cial objective, but found that the co-operation between the manufacturers had gone further in way that restricted competition. In particular, the Commission found that the manufacturers had colluded by agreeing that none of them would use the technology to reduce emissions above the minimum standard required by law. The Commission regarded this as limiting innova - tion by the manufacturers, which, in addition to restricting competition between them, was also

inconsistent with the EU’s sustainability and environmental goals. More recently, in its ELV decision of April 2025, the Commission found that 15 automotive manufacturers and a trade association had unlawfully colluded in relation to the recycling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) by agreeing to not pay dismantlers for the provision of recycling services, and to not promote how much of an ELV could be recycled and how much recycled material was used in their new cars. The Com - mission concluded that the conduct aimed at preventing recycling performance, playing into consumer choice when purchasing vehicles and reducing competitive pressure on manufacturers to exceed their legal requirements. The Commis - sion imposed fines exceeding EUR450 million, which again reflects its desire to set a strong precedent in this area. In announcing the deci - sion, Commissioner Ribera stressed that the fact that recycling in key sectors, such as the automotive industry, will be crucial to meeting the EU’s circular economy objectives, including through reducing raw material dependencies and creating a more sustainable and competi - tive industrial model in Europe. These cases clearly show the risk for compa - nies in entering into discussions to achieve legally mandated sustainability and environ - mental standards, and the need to ensure that what might be ostensibly legitimate forms of co-operation do not stray into the realm of car - tels by restricting competition in innovation, in achieving environmental performance higher than the legally mandated minimum standards or in relying on environmental performance when promoting products to consumers. The Com - mission will certainly remain vigilant in relation to any similar future conduct.

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