Deutz Fined $1.2 Million in Danish Competition Case Dating Back to 2013

Key Takeaways

• Deutz Fined $1.2 Million: Copenhagen City Court fined German engine manufacturer Deutz AG approximately $1.2 million (DKK 8 million) for violations of Danish competition law involving spare parts for IC3 trains.
• Anti-Competitive Practices Established: Danish competition authorities found that Deutz and its distributor, Diesel Motor Nordic, restricted parallel imports, while Deutz also abused its dominant market position.
• Decade-Long Legal Proceedings: The case dates to a June 2013 Competition Council decision, with Denmark's Supreme Court confirming the violations in December 2024.
• Distributor Settles, Employee Avoids Punishment: Diesel Motor Nordic agreed to an out-of-court fine of approximately $150,000 (DKK 1 million), while a senior Deutz employee was found guilty but received no punishment because of the lengthy proceedings.
• Earlier Enforcement Rules Apply: Deutz's penalty was calculated under the rules in force at the time of the violations, before Denmark's 2021 reforms shifted corporate competition fines from criminal to civil enforcement.

Deep Dive

German engine manufacturer Deutz has been fined approximately $1.2 million (DKK 8 million) by Copenhagen City Court for violating Danish competition law in a dispute over spare parts for IC3 trains that has spent more than a decade before the courts.

Deutz refused to supply spare parts for the trains and, in agreement with its Danish distributor, Diesel Motor Nordic, prevented parallel imports of those parts. Denmark's Competition Council ruled in June 2013 that both companies had breached the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements. It also found that Deutz had abused its dominant market position.

The companies challenged the decision, beginning a lengthy appeals process that reached Denmark's Supreme Court. In December 2024, the court upheld the finding that competition law had been violated, allowing criminal proceedings that had been suspended during the appeals to resume. Copenhagen City Court also found a senior Deutz employee guilty but waived punishment because of the length of the proceedings.

Diesel Motor Nordic had already agreed to an out-of-court fine of approximately $150,000 (DKK 1 million) a few months before the latest judgment. Deutz's penalty was instead determined by the court.

The fine was calculated under the rules in force when the violations occurred. Denmark has since revised its principles for calculating competition penalties several times, but those changes did not apply to the Deutz case.

The sanctions proceedings were handled by Denmark's National Unit for Special Crime (NSK), rather than the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, because the case predates a significant change to the country's competition enforcement system. Under amendments introduced in 2021, fines imposed on companies for competition law violations became civil rather than criminal penalties. Responsibility for bringing such cases before the courts also passed to the Competition and Consumer Authority.

The latest ruling comes nearly 13 years after the Competition Council's original decision and almost two years after the Supreme Court settled the underlying competition law violations. While the Supreme Court determined that the companies had broken the law, the subsequent proceedings established the penalties, including the decision to waive punishment for the Deutz employee.

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