China regulator imposes a £37.6m fine on Mercedes-Benz

LONDON (ShareCast) - A Chinese local regulator fined Mercedes (Xetra: 710000 - news) -Benz $56.5m (£37.6m) for antitrust violations on Thursday. Decision came after the regulator in the eastern Jiangsu province conducted one of the last major investigations into price-fixing in the country, focusing on multinational car companies.

The National Development and Reform Commission stated that between January 2013 and July 2014, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz had issued pricing instructions to dealers in order to maintain minimum prices for its E- and S- class cars, as well as for replacement parts.

The regulator said that the company had violated anti-monopoly law, damaging fair market competition and harming consumer rights.

"The investigation found Mercedes-Benz and its dealers in Jiangsu came to and carried out monopoly agreements to cap the lowest sales prices," the Jiangsu pricing regulator said in a statement.

The German company accepted the fine and admitted to take its responsibilities under the Chinese competition law "very seriously".

"We have taken all appropriate steps to ensure to fully comply with the law," the company added in a statement.

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