The European Commission (EC) begins legal action against the UK and six other EU states due to failing to act against "cheating" on measured emissions of diesel cars. The issue began last year, where the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Volkswagen of breaching US laws by installing software and adjusting the laboratory tests, which allowed to "cheat", giving lower emissions readings than actual.
The European Commission has started proceedings against the UK, Germany, Greece, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain for not bringing laws that would punish for environmental breaches or for not acting on the evidence uncovered during the investigation. According to the EC, the member countries must have an "effective, proportionate, and dissuasive penalties systems in place to deter car manufacturers from breaking the law. Where such a breach of law takes place, for example by using defeat devices to reduce the effectiveness of emission control systems, these penalties must be applied".
The EC also believes, that Germany and the UK have also broken the law by not disclosing "all the technical information gathered in their national investigations regarding potential nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions irregularities in cars by Volkswagen Group and other car manufacturers on their territories".
While no other car manufacturer has been found using a similar system to Volkswagen's, it is clear, that for many vehicles, the real driving emissions were significantly higher than those tested on the dynamometer.
