Today, Co-Rapporteur of the dieselgate Inquiry Committee, MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (ALDE), released the draft report of the dieselgate Inquiry Committee, together with Co-Rapporteur Jens Gieseke (EPP).
Commenting on the draft report, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy said:
„Dieselgate would not have happened if our national governments and the European Commission had acted in line with their legal and administrative responsibilities. Our investigations point out that unnecessary delays in decision-making, negligence and maladministration contributed to making this fraud possible.”
Car manufacturers were able to hide suspicious diesel emissions for years due to outdated emissions tests carried out in laboratories. The inquiry report states that the Commission failed to deliver quicker decision-making on new road emissions testing methods.
Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy: „In 2012, there were already clear signs that something was wrong with the emissions of diesel cars, but the Commission failed to undertake further investigations and take legal steps. On the contrary, the Commission decided actively not to take action.”
Dita Charanzová MEP, ALDE Coordinator on the Internal Market Committee, added:
“We know from EMIS Committee hearings that there has been a lack of political will to change how the testing and market surveillance had been done in the EU. Consumers deserve to finally get answers to their legitimate questions on their vehicles and emissions produced.”
The Rapporteurs recommend an internal Commission investigation on the developments in 2012. The draft report concludes that Member States contravened their legal obligations to monitor the potential use of defeat devices, despite a clear ban on defeat devices as foreseen in EU law.
Frederick Federley MEP, ALDE Coordinator on the EMIS Committee, said:
“We really need to start serious discussions about how we properly ensure that legislation is implemented and actually adhered to. It’s scandalous that car manufacturers cheated, but this is made worse by the fact that basically everyone knew this for years and yet very little was done to address it.”
The inquiry report suggests furthermore that in the future one Commissioner should be responsible for both air quality and car emissions; currently the responsibility is shared between the Commissioner for Environment and the Commissioner for Industry and Internal Market. The draft report recommends also looking at potential fraud relating to other consumer products due to inadequate product testing.
