When stamping license plates, several companies have the market in Germany divided for years a part among themselves. The Bundeskartellamt therefore imposed fines totaling around eight million euros on four companies and five individuals.
Around 25 million license plates are issued in Germany every year
The companies had agreed at least since 2000 until the beginning of 2015, among others, "who was allowed to operate by each of them on a given local market an embossing point and which companies waive this had to," said President of the Bundeskartellamt, Andreas Mundt. Such anti-competitive collaborations have given it to about 40 percent of the more than 700 local signs Präger markets.
Every year, some 25 million license plates are issued by Cartel information. The selling price to the private end customers have located in the time of the crime at about 20 to 30 euros per license plate pair.
Consumers who want to register a car, for example, must first apply for vehicle registration at an approval office and then have the license plates made by a sign maker. The desired number plate is then produced in the embossing stations and finally sold to the customer - without a TÜV badge and official seal. After that, the approval body has the embossed marks are resubmitted, there to let the official seal muster.
The ultimate catalog of alternative meanings for license plates
All affected parties have accepted the facts determined by the Federal Cartel Office to be accurate, it was said. This was taken into account when setting the fine, as was the fact that, with one exception, all parties concerned had cooperated with the Cartel Office during the proceedings. The fines imposed are not yet final.