In a drive to prevent a recurrence of the VW emissions
scandal, Internal Market Committee MEPs amended EU car “type
approval” rules on Thursday, to make environmental and safety
testing more independent and strengthen national and EU oversight
of cars already on the road.
Daniel Dalton (ECR, UK), who is steering this legislation through
Parliament, said “With today's vote the Internal Market Committee
has sent a clear signal to national governments and consumers
that it is about time we addressed the weaknesses that allowed
the emissions scandal to take place. We agreed that the key to
rebuilding consumer trust in the motor vehicle approval system is
more rigorous and systematic oversight at every stage”.
“That means greater auditing of the work of testing centres and
national authorities who approve vehicles for sale, clear
obligations on market surveillance of vehicles on the road and
independent oversight powers for the Commission to test cars
themselves and check that national authorities are doing their
job. Whilst we can never guarantee another VW scandal will not
happen, this triple-lock system, combined with the new RDE [Real
Driving Emissions] tests approved last year, make it very
unlikely that any manufacturer would take such a risk in future”,
he added.
Independent testing and approval of cars
“Type approval” is the process whereby national authorities
certify that a vehicle model meets all EU safety, environmental
and production requirements before it can be placed on the
market. The approved text clarifies the responsibilities of
national type approval authorities, testing centres and market
surveillance bodies, in order to reinforce their independence and
prevent conflicts of interest.
MEPs agreed, inter alia:
-
that the costs of type-approval and market surveillance work
must be covered by the member states in order to ensure
independence, either through their national budgets, fees to
be levied on the carmakers who have applied for type-approval
in that country or a combination of both methods (testing
centres are currently paid directly by carmakers),
-
to increase the powers of the “Forum on Enforcement”, e.g. in
the areas of coordinating and assessing member states’
activities, exchanging information and considering complaints
about possible non-compliance cases.
Stepping up market surveillance across the EU
MEPs’ amendments would require “national market surveillance
programmes” to be approved by the Commission. “This commits
member states to carrying out adequate market surveillance and
allows for a degree of coordination, so that different member
states are not doing the same tests on the same cars”, said Mr
Dalton.
The committee proposes a “two-step approach” whereby the
Commission could oblige a member state to do a test it deems
necessary or do the tests itself under certain conditions.
Fines should benefit consumers affected by
breaches
Car manufacturers who are in breach of the rules, e.g. for
falsifying test results, risk administrative fines of up to
€30,000 per vehicle, which can be levied by the Commission if no
fine is imposed at national level. The penalties should be used
to support market surveillance, benefit affected consumers and,
if appropriate, for environmental protection, MEPs say.
Next steps
The amended text was approved in the committee by 33 votes in
favour and four against. It will be put to a vote by the full
House in one of the upcoming plenary sessions.
The Council needs to agree a general approach on this file before
Parliament’s negotiators can begin talks with it to agree on the
final shape of this legislation.
