Press Release: Antitrust: Commission ensures carmakers give independent garages access to repair information

The European Commission has adopted four decisions that legally bind DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, General Motors and Fiat to commitments to provide technical information about car repairs to all independent garages in the EU. The decisions were adopted under Article 9(1) of Regulation 1/2003. The commitments were given after a Commission investigation found that inadequate access to the full range of technical information could drive independent repairers from the market and that the agreements between the carmakers and their authorised repairers would therefore infringe EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices (Article 81). The resulting reduction in competition between car repairers could lead to less choice and higher prices for consumers: independent repairers are often cheaper than authorised outlets, sometimes by over 50%. In addition, if repairs were carried out without the right technical information, this could lead to vehicles being driven in an unsafe condition, and add to air pollution and wasted fuel. The commitments will be binding until the motor vehicle block exemption (Commission Regulation (EC) 1400/2002) expires in May 2010. By that time, the vehicle emissions regulation (Council Regulation (EC) 715/2007) will have entered into force. This places an obligation upon vehicle manufacturers to provide independent repairers with standardised access to all technical repair information.