A top EU official has defended her agency’s approval of cooperation between German carmakers over the licensing of technologies after the companies drew antitrust scrutiny from US regulators. She appeared to be responding to criticism from a senior US enforcer that criticized the EU’s sign-off for the cooperation.
A top EU official has defended her agency’s approval of cooperation between German carmakers over the licensing of technologies, after the companies drew antitrust scrutiny from US regulators. “We know a buyers’ cartel when we see it,” Linsey McCallum told a conference.* “I really find it hard to equate joint purchasing to a buyers cartel.”
She appeared to be responding to criticism from a senior US enforcer that portrayed the EU’s sign-off for the cooperation, which would see carmakers team up to negotiate licenses for patented technologies, as being motivated by trade interests. The US Department of Justice’s Dina Kallay labeled joint licensing initiatives “buyer cartels” (see here and here).
The DOJ in parallel opened an investigation into BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Thyssenkrupp over their licensing practices (see here).
McCallum said the commission’s track record on antitrust fines showed it did not do favors to the European automotive industry: “The car sector, globally and specifically European, is the sector where our [cartel] fines are largest.”
Referring to the cooperation between the car-makers, which was signed off by Germany’s Bundeskartellamt in June 2024 and the commission in July 2025, she said that the companies’ approach to “agencies across the globe asking for views” was “good practice” and ought to be encouraged.
McCallum predicted there would be “talks and discussions ahead of us with our friends and colleagues at the DOJ on that one.”
*American Bar Association Antitrust Spring Meeting 2026. Washington, DC. March 25-27, 2026.
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