Swiss Federal Competition Commission opens investigation against BMW
The Swiss Federal Competition Commission (Comco) has launched an investigation against BMW. The cartel watchdogs are investigating whether BMW induced a garage to invest millions of euros and then unexpectedly terminated the co-operation after the fact.
The Competition Commission announced in a press release on Thursday that it would investigate whether BMW had relative market power vis-à-vis the garage and had therefore violated the Cartel Act.
The garage was an authorised dealer and service centre for BMW and Mini vehicles for several decades. It accuses BMW of offering it the prospect of expanding its business relationships and inducing it to invest millions.
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BMW then terminated the co-operation unexpectedly without providing for an appropriate interim solution, the Competition Commission wrote. The garage was dependent on the continuation of the business relationship with BMW in order to amortise the millions invested.
When asked by the news agency AWP, Competition Commission Director Patrik Ducrey did not want to provide any information on the amount of the investments. However, he did say that they were significant investments. He could not say any more.
The presumption of innocence applies to BMW.
First case
This is the first case in connection with the new provision on relative market power, which came into force on January 1, 2022, said Competition Commission Director Patrik Ducrey when asked by the news agency AWP. This is the first time that a garage that has been terminated following significant investments has claimed an abuse of relative market power. “But we expected cases like this.”
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The German car manufacturer is no stranger to the Competition Commission: BMW had to pay a huge fine of CHF157 million ($182 million) in the past decade for preventing parallel imports. The Federal Supreme Court finally dismissed an appeal by BMW in 2017.
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