English translation of an article by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaçuka, originally published in Seferihisar Yeni Haber on 2 April 2025 under the Turkish title “Otomobil üreticisi firmalara kartel cezası.”
Competition authorities in the European Union and the United Kingdom have imposed substantial fines on major European car manufacturers, which have recently faced difficult market conditions, after finding that they restricted competition.
According to the decision announced yesterday, the European Commission imposed fines totaling €458 million on 15 major car manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Stellantis, BMW, Ford, Toyota, Suzuki and Opel, as well as the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). The Commission found that these companies had participated for 15 years, from 2002 to 2017, in a cartel involving end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The United Kingdom’s competition authority also approved penalties of £77.7 million in connection with the same conduct.
Mercedes-Benz, which reported the cartel to the authorities, was granted immunity from fines.
The cartel was designed to eliminate competition among carmakers in the recycling sector through secret agreements and coordinated conduct, enabling the firms to secure unfair financial advantages. Under the EU’s End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC), manufacturers must provide owners of old or damaged vehicles with access to free recycling and, where necessary, cover the associated costs.
Such recycling and dismantling must be undertaken by authorized treatment facilities (ATFs). EU rules also require manufacturers to pay these facilities when the residual value recovered from end-of-life vehicles does not cover dismantling and scrapping costs.
Instead, the carmakers agreed not to pay recycling businesses, jointly maintaining that recycling was already profitable and that no payments to treatment facilities were necessary. This reduced manufacturers’ costs, restricted competition and caused financial harm to the recycling industry.
The firms were also alleged to have agreed not to compete over the recyclability of their vehicles or the amount of recycled material used in new cars. Such coordination could diminish incentives to make vehicles easier to recycle or to work with ATFs on innovative recycling solutions.
By obscuring information about vehicle recycling performance, the cartel may also have discouraged consumers from choosing more environmentally friendly cars. The greatest direct financial harm appears to have fallen on the ATFs. The cartel’s refusal to pay recycling costs left these facilities more dependent on revenue from scrap metal and used spare parts.
The European Union and Turkey are closely interconnected, particularly in the automotive industry. Many European manufacturers also operate production facilities or distribution networks in Turkey. Turkish legislation, including the Regulation on the Control of End-of-Life Vehicles, likewise places recycling obligations on manufacturers.
It is therefore especially important to investigate how far the European cartel’s practices may have extended to operations in Turkey. Establishing this connection would matter greatly to any individuals or organizations seeking damages before Turkish courts.
Original publication: Seferihisar Yeni Haber — Otomobil üreticisi firmalara kartel cezası (2 April 2025).
