On Thursday 7 September, the European Commission announced that together with the national consumer protection authorities, it had sent a joint letter to the Volkswagen CEO, Matthias Müller, that day, calling on the VW group to respect the commitments it made to the European consumers affected by the Volkswagen scandal.
The Commission did not want to make this letter public but in the letter called on the consumer protection authorities and itself to urge VW to repair all the diesel cars equipped with anti-pollution defeat devices as soon as possible. The commitment to proceed to these repairs by autumn 2017 was made by the German group at the end of the talks with the Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection, Věra Jourová (see EUROPE 11653).
Ultimatum. Under the supervision of the Dutch authorities, the consumer protection authorities are calling on VW to confirm within a month’s deadline that this timetable will be respected and to respond to their requests to begin a European level dialogue. It will be up to each member state to decide on what approach to follow if Volkswagen does not respond to this joints position or if no agreement is found.
The national authorities are calling for total transparency of information for consumers (clear and exact reasons why the vehicle should be repaired; what the repairs will consist of; the approaches to be followed by consumers to ensure vehicles are repaired; what will happen or could happen if their vehicles are not repaired; in what member states the vehicles that have not been repaired will cease to be roadworthy and at what moment). This transparency will also be ensured by way of a detailed report on what has been carried out and what remains to be done. They also expect VW to ensure that all potential problems that may occur after the repairs, are resolved.
The authorities in charge of consumption affairs are calling on Volkswagen to proactively report the repairs to all consumers concerned and not to impose limits on certain vehicle parts or a specific deadline and to provide legally binding assurances that the general vehicle performance will not be affected by the repairs.
They are also calling for the repairs process to be extended. If this process is not concluded by autumn 2017, Volkswagen will be obliged to extend the free software repair deadline and provide the time needed to respect its obligation to ensure the compliance of all vehicles with European consumer protection law.
No explicit demand for compensation. The letter, however, does not explicitly make a request for compensation even though European consumers, as opposed to US consumers, have not received any compensation at all so far.
The spokesperson for consumer policy, Christian Wigand, however, provided assurances that the vehicle repairs did not exclude compensation and pointed out that the, “CPC authorities also encourage Volkswagen to offer a ‘quid pluris’ solution on a voluntary basis to all consumers owning an affected car".
He also informed EUROPE that a sentence in the letter explained that the consumer protection authorities are urging, “VW to provide a solution that goes further on a voluntary basis, to all consumers who own a vehicle that has been affected” by the cheat device software. The letter also urges VW to consider the specific situation of consumers that may have incurred additional losses during the long process.
BEUC expects more. In a press release, the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC) welcomed the fact that the national consumer protection authorities had, “finally stepped up to support consumers in their dealings with VW. Beuc is joining the authorities in their demand that the so-called 'trust building measures' be improved”. Nonetheless, BEUC regretted that “the authorities have failed to call on VW to compensate European consumers for the damage they suffered unlike in the US". BEUC explains that according to the Italian organisation, Altroconsumo, the repairs have led to an increase in emissions and four national consumer groups are in court against Volkswagen to claim for compensation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)