The European Union's competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, threatened to take action over what could have been a breach of EU competition rules.Renault already makes just over half of the current, mark three Clio at its factory at Bursa in Turkey.
"We acknowledge our breach of the competition rules, but does our 'offence' make a mockery of the competition any more than a club substituting their first-choice goalkeeper after just a couple of minutes of the game to ensure they met the five-player starting rule.
The EC says such a practice "may amount to a breach of EU competition rules by reducing cross-border competition as a result of restricting so-called 'parallel trade' within the Single Market and preventing consumers from buying cheaper games that may be available in other Member States".
Mr Rodriguez strongly denies any wrongdoing or breach of the competition rules".
The European court of justice (ECJ) ruled last December that this was a clear issue but it referred the case back to the Scottish courts to assess whether that breach of EU competition rules was justified on health grounds.
"The museum is aware of an allegation as to the veracity of the photograph, Storybook Wolf, by José Luis Rodriguez, specifically that an animal model was used in breach of the competition rules," she said.
Rodriguez could not be reached for comment, but a spokesman for the Natural History Museum, which runs the prize with BBC Wildlife Magazine, said he strongly denied any wrongdoing or breach of the competition rules.
But the competition department of the commission he heads is also investigating Luxembourg on the grounds that some of the "comfort letters", tax rulings, and avoidance strategies agreed by his then administration amounted to state aid in breach of EU competition rules.
This summer the EC also found Google's Android OS to be in breach of its competition rules, leading to further regional tweaks — in that case to licensing terms.
