Greater EU powers to catch and fine emissions cheats kick in

(EurActiv, 1 Sep 2020) New EU rules on monitoring the vehicles on Europe’s roads come into force on Tuesday (1 September), granting the European Commission added powers to police car emissions and take to task any manufacturers that breach the law.

Following emissions-testing Dieselgate scandal – in which so-called ‘defeat devices’ were fitted to millions of Volkswagens – the Commission launched a review of how road vehicles should be regulated.

Along with finalising a new testing procedure that better takes into account emissions produced in real-world driving scenarios, EU decision-makers also agreed in 2018 to update the legislation that underpins monitoring efforts.

Today those new rules kick in and they include stricter checks on national authorities to ensure that they are implementing standards properly and an obligation on member states to test a certain number of cars that are already on the market.

At least one in every 40,000 newly-registered cars will have to be checked. According to 2019 sales figures, that would mean 447 inspections spread out across the EU. Member states are expected to foot the bill for those tests.

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EurActiv, 1 Sep 2020: Greater EU powers to catch and fine emissions cheats kick in