NMa: no further investigation into admission requirements FOCWA

According to the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), the admission requirements that FOCWA, the Dutch trade association of vehicle repair companies in the Netherlands, imposes on its prospective members are not in violation of the Dutch Competition Act. The NMa has come to this conclusion after having analyzed and investigated the indications it had received regarding this matter.

The admission procedures of FOCWA meet NMa standards: the procedures need to be open, objective, non-discriminatory, and need to be clear in advance. In addition, an independent body decides whether or not an applicant is admitted to FOCWA, and the applicant undertaking has the opportunity to appeal the decision if admission is refused. Information regarding this independent body had not been clearly available on FOCWA's website, and the NMa had therefore asked FOCWA to correct this.


With regard to indications the NMa had received that, in case of windshield damage, several insurance companies steered their customers to FOCWA-recognized auto repair shops only, the NMa refers to a recent sector scan it carried out, which specifically dealt with this issue, and which was published in the Monitor Financial Sector (MFS) of April 2009. Insurance companies enjoy freedom of contract, which means that insurance companies can decide for themselves what auto repair shops they select.


Other indications concerned the requirement auto repair shops needed to meet in order to become a member, which was owning or leasing business property for their repair shops. This meant that mobile repair shops were ineligible for membership. The NMa does not find it unreasonable that FOCWA demands that its members are able to replace windshields under any weather condition, thus effectively requiring prospective members to have access to their own workshops if a certain repair job required them to have one. Anyone that meets FOCWA's requirements is eligible for FOCWA membership. In addition, the NMa would like to point out that FOCWA membership by itself is not a prerequisite for becoming a successful player on the auto repair market, with or without one's own workshop.


Trade association admission procedures are meant to take the quality in that industry to a higher level, leaving consumers better off as aspects such as safety and professionalism are safeguarded. On the other hand, there is no evidence that potential entrants are faced with unreasonable barriers.