EU ‘defeat device’ guidelines leave governments with no excuses for failure to punish Dieselgate cheaters
Today the European Commission published guidelines for member states to interpret the 2007 emissions law and identify illegal defeat devices being used by carmakers to cheat emissions tests. T&E welcomed the move, which will deny governments the excuses they have used for failing to regulate engines emitting poisonous fumes. However, as the guidelines are not applied retroactively, they will not address the millions of polluting cars that have already been sold.
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Julia Poliscanova, clean vehicles and air quality manager at Transport & Environment, said: “With the new Commission guidelines, EU member states will no longer be able to hide behind excuses that the law is vague and open to interpretation. But, as guidelines, they are not binding, allowing governments to ignore them and protect domestic carmakers. More importantly, we still have 29 million dirty diesel on our roads and the guidelines will do nothing to compel member states to clean them up. Only a strong EU-wide regulator will ensure that cars in the future meet emissions standards in the real world.”
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