Over a year after the Volkswagen scandal broke, the European Commission decided on Thursday 8 December to open a series of infringement proceedings against seven member states for failure to comply with requirements laid down in EU legislation for vehicle reception.
‘Abiding by the law is first and foremost the duty of car manufacturers. But national authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law,’ said Internal Market and Industry Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska.
Germany, the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom are being sent warning letters for failing to draw up systems to dissuade car manufacturers from breaking the law or for failing to properly apply penalties for clear breaches of the law.
The Commission points out that under the directive on vehicle reception (Directive 2007/46/EC, Article 46 on penalties) and more particularly the EU Regulation on the reception of motor vehicles in respect of Euro 5 and Euro 6 emissions (Regulation 715/2007, Article 13 on penalties), the member states must set up an effective penalties system that is proportionate and dissuasive in order to act as a disincentive for car manufacturers to break the law – and also to ensure the law is respected.
The Commission is addressing letters of formal notice to the Czech Republic, Greece and Lithuania because they have failed to introduce such penalties systems into their national law. The Commission is also opening infringements against Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom – the Member States that issued type approvals for Volkswagen Group in the EU – for not applying their national provisions on penalties despite the company's use of illegal defeat device software.
The Commission is laying extra emphasis on the cases of Germany and the UK, two member states which didn’t want to provide technical information they obtained during their own investigations set up after the NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions scandal.
France and Italy are not subject to infringement proceedings at the moment.
The emissions scandal began with Germany’s Volkswagen company (see EUROPE 11394), but has since spread to other manufacturers suspected of similar practices, Fiat, for instance. France has been accused of hiding information from the preliminary information provided to the European Commission in August (see EUROPE 11404), but neither Italy nor France is included in the countries against which infringement proceedings are currently being launched. The Commission is reported to be waiting for further information before making its decision. The timeline is vague but we understand that France is due to present its final report to the Commission later this month.
The member states are not required by EU legislation to present reports, explained a European source, and the Commission is working on the basis of loyal cooperation (Article 4, paragraph 3 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) for Germany and the United Kingdom.
The announcement was welcomed by MEPs and civil society, with many a caveat
These warning letters have been awaited since they were announced by Internal Market and Industry Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska in Parliament’s investigative committee on the Volkswagen scandal two months ago (see EUROPE 11623). Unsurprisingly, the Greens welcomed the announcement but expressed concern about the way negotiations are proceedings on changing the vehicle reception and market monitoring system in Europe (see EUROPE 11664). The S&D group also welcomed the Commission’s announcement and is now demanding guidelines from the Commission to clarify interpretation of EU rules on exemptions from the ban on defeat devices (Regulation 715/2007, Article 5). The EPP has questions about the timing of the announcement since Parliament's investigative committee has not yet published its conclusions.
For civil society, the announcement has been welcomed by the European Consumers’ Bureau (BEUC), which is now calling for compensation for consumers from car manufacturers, and Transport & Environment (T&E), which criticises member states’ behaviour and their attempts to evade the future EU rules on authorisations and real driving emissions (RDE). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)