News
Deutz fined DKK 8 million
The Copenhagen City Court has sentenced the German engine manufac-turer Deutz AG to a fine of DKK 8 million for violating the competition act. The court has also found a senior employee at Deutz guilty, but the punishment was waived due to the lengthy legal proceedings.
Deutz has refused to supply spare parts for the IC3 trains and has prevented parallel imports of spare parts in agreement with its distributor in Denmark, Diesel Motor Nordic.
In June 2013, the Competition Council decided that both companies had violated the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements, and that Deutz in addition had breached the prohibition on abuse of dominant position. The Competition Council’s decision was subsequently appealed through several instances, and in December 2024 the Supreme Court finally determined that there was a violation of the competition act.
After the Supreme Court's ruling, the criminal part of the case—which had been on hold—could be resumed. A few months ago, Diesel Motor Nordic agreed to pay an out-of-court fine of 1 million kroner, while the courts were responsible for determining the fine for Deutz.
The amount of the fine was determined according to the principles for calculating fines that applied at the time of the violation. The principles for calculating fines have since been changed several times.
It is the NSK (National Unit for Special Crime) that handled the part of the case concerning sanctions against the companies. This is because the case predates the amendment of the competition act in 2021, when fines for companies for violations of the competition act became civil, and responsibility for handling cases in court was transferred to the Competition and Consumer Authority.
For further information
Contact Head of Communications at the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, Hanne Arentoft, at +45 41 71 50 98.
Read the judgement (in Danish)