Brussels, 24/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 September, the European commissioner for the internal market and industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, asked the member states to launch investigations to determine whether other car manufacturers have been using defeat device software similar to that used by the German group Volkswagen.
“Our message is clear: zero tolerance on fraud and rigorous compliance with EU rules. We need full disclosure and robust pollutant emission tests in place”, the commissioner said.
The Commission's stated objective is to determine the scale of fraudulent practice by car manufacturers following the scandal which broke across the Atlantic last week. Standards 5 and 6 laid down by Regulation 715/2007/EC formally ban the use of defeat devices for laboratory tests. The Commission will be meeting the national type approval authorities “in the coming days” to discuss the matter.
From January 2016, testing in real conditions under the second RDE (Real Driving Emissions) package will be phased in, on top of the tests carried out in laboratory conditions (see EUROPE 11395), as laboratory tests do not reflect actual emissions. However, “we still need to find agreement on the type approval treatment in case of major divergences between the results of the laboratory and real driving pollutant emissions tests”.
The commissioner has furthermore invited the Luxembourg Presidency to add this point to the agenda of the Competitiveness Council to be held on 1 October.
The matter has taken on a new dimension with the recent statements made the German transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, who said on Thursday 24 September that he had been told by the American authorities that “in Europe as well, vehicles fitted with 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines have been affected by the manipulations”. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)