European Commission warns BYD, SAIC and Geely that their lack of cooperation frees its hands to impose higher penalties, letters seen by POLITICO show.

The European Commission has told the three Chinese electric car makers it’s investigating over state subsidies that they haven’t provided enough information, according to letters seen by POLITICO, a warning that could pave the way for tougher European Union fines.

The letters, addressed to EV makers BYD, SAIC and Geely and all dated April 23, reach the same conclusion: that the trio did not provide enough information on subsidies, operations and supply chains.

Working without these inputs, the Commission says, means it will need to revert to the concept of “facts available.” This usually means, in practice, that it has a free hand to slap higher duties on the imported products.