The Office of Fair Trading said yesterday that Mercedes-Benz and five van and truck dealers may have broken competition law.

The case comprises five separate alleged infringements that took place at different periods between March 2007 and January 2010. Each alleged infringement involved two or three dealers. The OFT said its provisional finding is that Mercedes-Benz was also involved in two of the alleged infringements.

“The precise content of the arrangements differs among the five alleged infringements but all contain, to varying degrees, at least some element of market sharing, price coordination and/or exchange of commercially sensitive information. “The evidence also suggests that, in respect of two of the alleged infringements, Mercedes-Benz helped to facilitate or consolidate the arrangements amongst the dealers,” it said in a statement.

Ali Nikpay, OFT senior director of cartels, said: “Based on the evidence currently before us, we have reason to believe that these dealers co-operated to limit competition in their areas. “This case, which involves dealers who are mainly active in areas within the North of England and parts of Wales and Scotland, shows the OFT’s commitment to pursuing allegations of serious competition law infringements irrespective of the size of the companies involved or the geographic scope of the case.

“These are the OFT’s provisional findings only. All parties will now have a full opportunity to respond to our statement before we decide whether competition law has in fact been infringed.” Mercedes-Benz UK said in a statement to Reuters: “We now have detailed information about the investigation of the OFT for the first time. We will analyse the information and then give our feedback to the OFT. “We cannot comment further in an on-going procedure and we will continue to co-operate with the authorities.”

Original Story taken from Motor Trader – http://www.motortrader.com/latest-news/mercedes-broken-competition-rules/