The country's antitrust regulator has fined local branches of two European carmakers for manipulating emissions results during certification tests and falsely promoting their vehicles as eco-friendly.

The Fair Trade Commission(FTC) said on Wednesday that it fined Audi-Volkswagen Korea(AVK) 831 million won and Stellantis Korea 231 million won, and ordered corrective actions.

The companies are accused of manipulating the emissions reduction device in their cars so that they did not fully operate under normal driving conditions to maintain output and fuel efficiency.

In 2019 and 2020, the Environment Ministry revoked certification for their cars and slapped them with billions of won in penalties. The FTC said the companies can be held accountable for false advertisement, even if their certifications were valid at the time of promotion.

This is the second time the FTC has imposed penalties regarding false advertisement of emissions, after it fined AVK 37-point-three billion won for similar actions.