China imposes anti-trust fine on Mercedes-Benz

Chinese authorities imposed a 350 million yuan (56 million U.S. dollars) fine on luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz on Thursday following an anti-trust probe.

The fine was ordered by the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Commodity Prices. A few dealers for the German car maker was also given an aggregate fine of 7.8 million yuan.

Mercedes-Benz said the company respects the anti-trust order and would take the punishment. It has also implemented "an in-company rectification plan", which has been approved by investigation authorities, to make sure each of its sales procedures follow Chinese laws and regulations.

Chinese consumers normally buy cars from dealers authorized by auto makers. According to the anti-trust investigators, Mercedes-Benz either met with its dealers to control prices or directly notified them about quoted prices in order to achieve market dominance between January 2013 and July 2014.

The NDRC ruled the company has violated the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law by excluding or restraining market competition and thus damaging the rights and interests of consumers.

Regulators last year fined Chrysler, Audi and 12 Japanese companies after anti-trust investigations.

China's antitrust law enforcement since last year has involved domestic and foreign firms, both private and state-owned enterprises. NDRC has investigated 335 enterprises and industry associations over monopolies, 33 of which were foreign.