BMW must pay £15k daily fine over recycling documentation

BMW has been fined for failing to hand over documents relating to Britain’s competition watchdog as part of an investigation into the way the German manufacturer recycles old cars.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has hit the carmaker with a £30,000 fine, plus a daily penalty of £15,000 until it complies.

The regulator said BMW has failed to provide information on recycling what are known as end-of-life vehicles. These must be disposed of in a sustainable way and car makers must offer to do it for free.

The CMA is also looking at the use of recycled materials in BMW’S cars and suspects it holds information important to the case outside the UK. It said that while BMW had provided some information, it had failed to comply fully with the legal request, arguing that the matter was outside its jurisdiction. But the regulator dismissed this and issued the daily fine.

In 2021 BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes were sued over claims their plans for limiting emissions went against Paris climate targets and were illegal.

BMW and VW were also fined €875m by the EU last year over their role in the socalled dieselgate scandal.

BMW said: “We can confirm that the European Commission and the UK antitrust authority issued BMW AG with information requests. The relevant BMW Group companies are cooperating with the competent authorities within the framework of the applicable legal requirements but also reserve their procedural rights when authorities act beyond the scope of their powers. The penalty issued by the CMA is in response to BMW AG asserting its position that the CMA does not have the legal power to compel foreign companies to produce documents held entirely outside the UK jurisdiction.”