EU ministers agreed on draft new policies for authorizing cars for sale in order to avoid a repeat of the Volkswagen emissions scandal and providing the European Commission the power to fine cheating producers directly.
The rules, which still need to be gone over with the European Parliament prior to becoming law, are a response to the 2015 dieselgate scandal when German automaker Volkswagen was discovered to have used software to cheat U.S. diesel emission tests.
Under today system, national bodies such as Germany’s KBA authority, have the power to clear new automobiles for the entire European Union and can also revoke those licences.
The new rules will allow other nationwide authorities to evaluate such choices and also provide the European Commission the power to carry out spot checks and fine producers as much as 30,000 euros per car if they are discovered to be cheating.
In the run-up to Monday’s ministerial conference in Brussels, European diplomats had stated Germany hesitated to hand more market monitoring powers to Brussels regardless of the fallout from the Volkswagen scandal.
German junior economy minister Matthias Machnig informed other ministers at the conference his nation remained in favor of strengthening oversight, however included he desired assurances on the best ways to prevent a conflict between various companies.
Following the Volkswagen scandal, investigations of numerous other carmakers revealed on-road nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions as much as 15 times the regulatory limits, in addition to making use of devices to mask real automobile emissions.
“No week passes without new discoveries, new examinations,” EU Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska informed ministers. “It will never complete if we do not have a more robust system in Europe.”
