Press Release: Competition: Commission welcomes changes to General Motors’ distribution and servicing agreements

The European Commission on 13 March 2006 decided to close its investigation into General Motors’ (GM) distribution and servicing agreements following changes to bring them into line with the Commission’s car distribution block exemption Regulation 1400/2002 (see IP/02/1073). The changes introduced by GM ensured that dealers and repairers were not restricted in selling or servicing cars of competing brands (multi-branding), and that all repair-shops who fulfill the necessary quality standards can become members of the authorised network. The case followed complaints from the French, German, Spanish and Italian Opel dealers’ associations. A similar case involving BMW was also closed (see IP/06/302).

European Commission: Memo: MEMO/06/120, Complaints against BMW and General Motors regarding contractual standards required from their dealers and repairers - questions and answers, 13.3.06 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/120&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

---