EU throws book at 7 countries over car emissions

The Volkswagen scandal cast a bad light on the bloc’s regulatory system.

The European Commission on Thursday took legal action against seven EU countries, including Germany and the U.K., for failing to crack down on carmakers in the wake of Volkswagen’s admission last year that it rigged 11 million of its cars to cheat on emissions tests.

The move reflects Brussels’ growing irritation with how national governments have dealt with the fallout from the scandal, which put the spotlight on the sometimes cozy relationship between automakers, regulators and national authorities. It also underscored the weakness of the EU’s fragmented regulatory regime in contrast with the system in the U.S, which both discovered VW’s cheating and forced the German company to pay $15 billion in compensation. Volkswagen has brushed aside calls to compensate its European customers.

The Commission said Germany, the U.K., Luxembourg and Spain — countries that approved Volkswagen’s cars in the EU — broke the law when they chose not to penalize the carmaker after it admitted to emissions cheating.

That points to another weakness of the EU system — cars can be sold across the Continent once they are approved by a single national car testing authority, and car manufacturers tend to look for the laxest regulators.

Brussels also accused Germany and the U.K. of breaking EU law because they refused to share with the Commission all the technical results of their national investigations into emissions from Volkswagen and other automakers.

Separately, the Commission also charged the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Greece with not even bothering to include penalties for car manufacturers that break emission rules in their national laws.

The Commission had come under fierce pressure from consumer and environmental groups for failing to properly protect car owners and police the EU’s emissions limits. However, it was also buffeted by the powerful auto sector and by leading countries like Germany, which argued the EU’s rules were difficult to interpret.

Thursday’s action is an effort on the part of the Commission to regain control of the issue.

Click Here: Cheap Chiefs Rugby Jersey 2019

“Abiding by the law is first and foremost the duty of car manufacturers,” European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry Elżbieta Bieńkowska said in a statement. “But national authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law.”

Green groups welcomed the Commission’s decision.

“The Commission has bared teeth and told member states it’s time to act against the dishonest carmakers that have been manipulating tests and poisoning the air by turning off exhaust treatment systems,” said Greg Archer from NGO Transport & Environment. “Toothless paper-tiger regulators must now do their job and put health of citizens above that of engines. Dirty diesels must be recalled and fixed and national regulators must stop protecting their friends and clients in the automotive industry.”

The scale of the EU’s problem in clamping down on its car industry has been made increasingly apparent over the last year. In the wake of the Volkswagen scandal, the European Parliament set up a Dieselgate committee meant to figure the shortfalls that had allowed VW’s manipulations to go uncaught, while national bodies launched their own investigations.

But the last months of testimony before the Dieselgate committee showed commissioners, as well as some national authorities, were clueless about the ability of car manufacturers to install illegal defeat devices.

It also became clear EU regulations are a muddle. Defeat devices, like those used by VW that switch off an engine’s emission controls, are illegal. However, exemptions allow automakers to use them in certain cases, for example to protect an engine from different temperatures. That’s led to carmakers setting such high temperature limits that emission controls are shut off most of the time.

The legal action also comes as national governments and the European Parliament negotiate proposed reforms to the EU’s type-approval system. One of the Commission’s proposals would see it have more powers to police the work of national regulators — but that faces pushback from many countries with important car industries.

Thursday’s action is the first stage of a three-step infringement procedure. Countries have two months to respond to the Commission’s accusations. If Brussels isn’t satisfied, it can choose to escalate a case, potentially ending up in the European Court of Justice.