Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Finance, funds and markets · European Union · 2002–2017

End-of-life vehicle recycling cartel (EU carmakers, ACEA)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 not measured See the gaps

The European Commission fined 15 car manufacturers and their trade association ACEA a total of 458 million euros for agreeing, over 2002–2017, not to advertise recycled content in vehicles and not to pay dismantlers.

€458 millionFine on 15 manufacturers and ACEA for the end-of-life vehicle cartel
As recorded in the sources reviewed; period of the agreement 2002–2017.

Status Fine of 458 million euros recorded; the sources reviewed give no decision date, appeal outcome or company response.

What?
An agreement among 15 vehicle manufacturers and ACEA not to advertise recycled content and not to pay dismantling centres.
Where?
European Union and United Kingdom.
When?
2002–2017.
Who?
Gained
  • Manufacturers — Avoided paying dismantling centres, as agreed (per the sources reviewed's description of the arrangement).
Lost
  • Dismantling centres — Were the parties the manufacturers agreed not to pay.
Harmed
None on record
Why?
the sources reviewed does not state the motive beyond the terms of the agreement.
How?
Through an agreement between competitors, including via the trade association ACEA, as found by the Commission.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

According to the record, 15 vehicle manufacturers and their trade association ACEA agreed not to advertise the recycled content of vehicles and not to pay dismantling centres. The arrangement ran from 2002 to 2017, and the sources reviewed places it in the EU and the United Kingdom.

The European Commission fined the 15 manufacturers and ACEA 458 million euros. Daimler (Mercedes) was the whistleblower in this case and received no fine.

The same car companies were also involved in a separate cartel, on AdBlue dosing (2009–2014), in which Volkswagen and BMW were fined 875 million euros and Daimler was again the whistleblower and was not fined. The Commission described that case as the first cartel restricting the use of a new technology.

  1. 2002Start of the period covered by the end-of-life vehicle agreement
  2. 2017End of the period covered by the agreement

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Vehicles presented as recyclable ("Our vehicles are recyclable").
    Manufacturers, as recorded in the sources reviewed

Recorded

  • The Commission fined 15 manufacturers and ACEA 458 million euros for agreeing not to advertise recycled content and not to pay dismantling centres (2002–2017).
  • Daimler, the whistleblower, was not fined in this cartel or in the AdBlue cartel.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. Claimant won€458m Fine, millions
    End-of-life vehicle recycling cartel decision
    European Commission · Regulatory · European Commission → 15 vehicle manufacturers and ACEA

    The Commission fined the manufacturers and ACEA for agreeing not to advertise recycled content in vehicles and not to pay dismantling centres. Daimler, the whistleblower, was not fined.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Recycled content advertised
Agreed not to
15 manufacturers and ACEA, 2002–2017
Payments to dismantling centres
Agreed not to pay
Commission decision
Independent ecological evaluation
None in the sources reviewed
The decision concerned competition, not measured environmental outcomes

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No independent ecological evaluationKey earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

Record

  • None on record The size of the gain the manufacturers made from the arrangement: no estimate is given in the sources reviewed.
  • None on record The date of the Commission decision and the individual fines per company: not on record.

Did the harm stop?

the sources reviewed give the period of the arrangement as 2002–2017; it does not state a stop date for any harm.

Who paid?

The fine was imposed on the manufacturers and ACEA. the sources reviewed give dismantling centres and consumers as the parties who did not receive payment or recycled-content information.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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