On Friday 13 January, following revelations about Fiat-Chrysler on 12 January by the United States’ Environment Protection Agency (EPA), about what are reported to be invalidation mechanisms in the car manufacturers’ models, the European Commission said it was prepared to cooperate with the EPA. The revelations announce a potential new ‘dieselgate’ after the Volkswagen scandal.
According to information reported in the media, the Italian-US car manufacturer Fiat-Chrysler is accused of equipping 104.000 vehicles with the cheat mechanism, namely the Jeep Cherokee and Dodge Ram 500.
The European Commission is already in permanent contact with the US agency and repeated its desire to cooperate with the EPA, the member states’ authorities and the car manufacturer in question, explained Lucia Caudet, spokesperson for the Internal Market and industry, to this newsletter.
Since September, the European Commission has already been involved in a mediation procedure between Germany and Italy. Germany has issued serious suspicions about Fiat using cheat mechanisms the way Volkswagen did (see EUROPE 11616).
Little room for manoeuvre for the Commission. Under current legislation (Directive 2007/46/EC on reception of motor vehicles), the Commission only has the power to mediate between two member states (Article 30 of the directive).
Within this framework, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) tested a Fiat 500x – the model highlighted by the German authorities – which was praised. Quizzed by this newsletter about details of the tests, Caudet refused to comment until the mediation is complete. However, the spokeswoman recognised that the Commission’s powers were ‘very limited’ under current legislation and the vehicle ‘did not necessarily represent all the fleet.’
At the start of last year, the Commission unveiled draft legislation revising the reception system and market surveillance of motor vehicles (see EUROPE 11476). The proposal is currently being examined by the European Parliament, which is due to vote on its report on 26 January (see EUROPE 11664).
Renault in the eye of the storm. After Volkswagen and Fiat, it is now the turn of French car manufacturer Renault to be suspected of fraudulent practices. On Friday 13 January, the Paris prosecution service launched a judicial investigation into ‘deceit,’ according to the media. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)