10/10/2018 (Agence Europe) – Connected with the new regulation on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles, the European Commission announced on Wednesday 10 October that it has invested in two new emissions testing laboratories, known as VELA (Vehicle Emissions Laboratories). The two laboratories will be managed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and will become operational in February 2019, but will not start testing vehicles until 2020. The co-legislators have agreed to strengthen the European Commission’s surveillance role for the vehicles market and to give it the possibility to test vehicles directly in the event of suspected non-compliance (see EUROPE 11921) in order to avoid any repetition of the Dieselgate scandal. There are already four laboratories at Ispra in Italy, where the JRC has its headquarters, the main role of which is to develop new decision-making processes. (PH)