1st ICAI 2020

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2020

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

stricter than those set out in Regulation (EU) No 330/2010” (European Commission, 2010b) . From the point of view of legislation and its application, the distribution of new cars has ceased to differ from other sectors, and moreover, has ceased to require the attention of the EC. The Commission, for instance, also stopped its monitoring of national differences in the prices of new cars and the publication of the annual Car Price Reports. Their goal had been to push down the price differences between Member States caused by the relative closeness of their national markets. In the Commission’s words: “Situation has improved greatly, in part due to enforcement action by the Commission, and also thanks to the increased availability of price information on the internet” (European Commission, 2020a). What then does this imply for the field? Does the calm situation that prevailed in the distribution of new cars at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century still endures at the beginning of its third decade? Can that period of calm end soon, as the car distribution is also gradually experiencing its digital revolution, which would bring “the end of car dealerships as we know them” (Mayor, Lakshman and Dubner, 2018)? The following text will therefore first review what the EU competition law enforcement authorities still had to deal with in relations between car manufacturers and their dealers after 2000, then in the second decade of this century, and finally what is to be expected in the coming years. The aim will be to answer the question whether competition law will again have something to say on the distribution of new cars. 2. Stormy beginning of the 21st century The purpose of this chapter is to show through the example of significant case decisions that the classic model of relations between the manufacturers and their authorized dealer network was, in the years immediately after 2000, closely watched and shaped by EU competition law decisions of precedence, which even exceeded the boundaries of the automotive sector. At the beginning of the century, the Commission issued “a third generation” Block Exemption Regulation (European Commission, 2002a) for the automotive sector (the current Regulation No 461/2010 - which replaced the Regulation 1400/2002 - already covers only the so-called aftermarket, that is the supply of spare parts and repairs). The sale of new motor vehicles was dealt with hand in hand with sales of their spare parts and of provision of repair and maintenance services. In addition, the Commission accompanied this relatively detailed act on the conditions of exemption from cartel prohibition under Article 101 (3) TFEU (former Article 81 (3) EC Treaty) by the comprehensive Explanatory Brochure dedicated to Distribution and Servicing of Motor Vehicles in the European Union. (European Commission, 2002b) Among other things, the Commission referred there to its recent decisions on the distribution cases of carmakers DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen or Opel , which were subsequently reviewed by the Court of Justice of the EU and remained relevant case law up to now. In a 2005 DailmerChrysler decision, the General Court interpreted and completed the criteria for determining whether, in competition law terms, the dealers in a car distribution network are part of the car manufacturer’s undertaking or, on the contrary, independent undertakings (European Commission COMP/36.264; General

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