Two of the key authors of Europe’s new block exemption regulation for motor vehicle distribution have left their posts and moved to other jobs.

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Eric van Ginderachter, former head of the motor vehicles section of the competition directorate, and his former boss Sven Norberg, have both taken other jobs in the EU bureaucracy, Automotive News Europe reported.


Van Ginderachter has transferred to the telecommunications and post section and Norberg to planning and human resources. Only Konrad Schumm remains from the core team. With no replacements named yet for the two, some in the industry are concerned.


“It means that we haven’t got people in the competition directorate who have the experience and expertise and the knowledge of the new regulation,” said David Evans, head of the block exemption task force for CECRA, the European motor vehicle dealers association.


The new rules take effect on October 1. Many car makers are still scrambling to rewrite dealer contracts to reflect the changes.“The [authors of the new rules] won’t be handling the monitoring, evaluation, enforcement,” said Evans. “They won’t be in the same position to answer questions about the new regulation. All that experience is gone, which is rather unfortunate.”

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Tilman Lueder, spokesperson for the European Commission competition directorate, said such transfers are normal.


“It is customary that heads of units change their jobs every three to five years,” he said. “Once they have accomplished a big piece of legislation, that is the right moment.”


Van Ginderachter and Norberg were credited with keen insight into the motor industry, which took manufacturers by surprise.