Car battery – Photo by Sergey Meshkov on Pexels
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission accused five starter batteries manufacturers Thursday of breaching EU antitrust rules by colluding to increase the prices of automotive starter batteries sold to car producers.
Automotive starter batteries provide an electric current to the starting motor, which starts the engine in cars powered by traditional combustion engines.
They also supply power to the electrical equipment of cars.
The Commission’s concerns were that between 2004 until 2017 the five starter batteries manufacturers created, published and agreed to use new indices in their price negotiations with car producers (the so-called ‘Eurobat Premium System’). The aim of this alleged conduct was to fix an important element of the final battery price.
The Commission was also concerned that Eurobat and its service provider Kellen were aware of the alleged conduct and actively contributed to it by assisting the battery manufacturers in creating and running the Eurobat premium system.
The alleged conduct concerns automotive starter batteries sold to car producers in the EEA for use (i) in new cars; and (ii) as replacements (but only if sold via the car producers’ service network of authorised repairers).
If the Commission’s preliminary view is confirmed, this conduct would infringe Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement, which prohibit cartels and other restrictive business practices. This prohibition includes anticompetitive conduct by associations of companies.
The Commission stresses that the sending of a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the outcome of an investigation.
More information will be made available under the case number AT.40545 in the public case register on the Commission’s competition website.
