Following publication of the European Parliament committee of inquiry’s report into the automobile sector emissions scandal (EMIS committee), Lucia Caudet, the spokesperson for industry at the European Commission, defended her institution in a written response sent to EUROPE on Monday 19 December .
The EMIS committee’s report published on 19 December is quite explicit and does not spare either the member states or the European Commission. It criticises the Commission for having failed to use all the different means it had to ensure respect for the legislation in force and for having been late in submitting proposals for modernising the motor vehicle type-approval system (see EUROPE 11692).
Caudet points out that the defeat devices are clearly banned under European legislation (Regulation 715/2007, Article 5). It is therefore up to the car manufacturers to comply with this legislation and for the national authorities and technical services to ensure respect for the law. She also states that the Commission has opened a number of infringement proceedings in this connection (see EUROPE 11685).
Caudet adds that the Commission played a limited role under the European legislation currently in force and in an effort to strengthen its future role has proposed new initiatives (see EUROPE 11686). She concludes that "the Commission always acts in the European interest, not in the interests of any one group or stakeholder".
The national experts met in comitology on Tuesday 20 December to take a decision on the third raft of emission tests in real driving conditions (RDE). One of the aims is to extend the RDE tests to petrol-fuelled vehicles (see other article). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)