The European Commission has fined the German carmaker, Volkswagen, around one-hundred-and-ten million dollars for preventing its Italian dealers from selling VW and Audi cars to customers in other European Union countries.

The Commission said Volkswagen contravened EU competition law by denying customers the benefits of cross-border price differentials.

Volkswagen has three months to pay the fine, which correspondents say represents about ten per-cent of its annual profits.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service