​Press Release 16 /2015

 

The Portuguese Competition Authority investigation revealed the existence of an extended warranty contract that prevented consumers from having repair and maintenance services carried out by independent repairers, if not to lose the right to the manufacturer’s warranty.

 

On 10 July 2015, Ford offered a set of commitments to meet the competition concerns expressed by the PCA.  According to these commitments, all Ford’s contracts or any other official documents provided to its customers must explicitly state that the warranties are not conditional on the end user having repair and maintenance services (outside of the warranty’s scope) carried out within Ford official repairers’ network.

 

Ford commits to inform its official dealers and authorized repairers about the changes made in the contracts and to forward the amended extended warranty contract to all its customers, official dealers and authorized repairers.

 

According to Law No 19/2012, of 8 may, the Authority may accept the commitments offered by the undertakings at stake in the proceedings, when it is considers that the commitments offered are  likely to eliminate the negative effects of the investigated practices on competition.

 

Ford is obliged to comply with the set of commitments now offered to the Portuguese Competition Authority, under the Authority’s supervision.

 

The commitments offered by Ford are, from today onwards, subject to public consultation.

 

Interested third parties have 20 working days to present their observations to the Portuguese Competition Authority, by e-mail to adc@concorrencia.pt, or by mail to Avenida de Berna, n.º 19, 1050-037 Lisboa.

 

The results of the public consultation will be published on the Authority’s official website.