Skip to main content

EU passes testing rules to avoid ‘Dieselgate’ repeat

The European Parliament has rubber-stamped new rules following the Volkswagen emissions scandal which seek in part to increase the quality of testing. The idea of the reforms for the type approval process is to ensure that vehicles act on the road in the way that they have been tested in laboratory conditions. The agreement, which has been two years in the making, requires national market surveillance authorities to check 1 in 40,000 vehicles registered in the country the previous year, with at least 20% o
April 24, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The European Parliament has rubber-stamped new rules following the 994 Volkswagen emissions scandal which seek in part to increase the quality of testing. The idea of the reforms for the type approval process is to ensure that vehicles act on the road in the way that they have been tested in laboratory conditions.


The agreement, which has been two years in the making, requires national market surveillance authorities to check 1 in 40,000 vehicles registered in the country the previous year, with at least 20% of tests to be emissions-related. 1816 European Union member states will also have to provide sufficient funds for market surveillance activities and to finance type-approval activities from fees levied on manufacturers.

The 1690 European Commission (EC) will be able to carry out assessments of the procedures put in place by type-approval authorities in member states.

Transport group FIA says greater market surveillance and additional oversight by the EC will act as new checks in the system – although it points out that the revised process “fails to end the direct financial link between testers and vehicle manufacturers”.

However, it believes there will be additional transparency. “European consumers have been let down by the system that was meant to deliver cars that performed as promised in the real world,” says 8054 FIA Region I (Europe, Middle East and Africa) director general, Laurianne Krid. “The new rules should increase checks of vehicles already on the market, thus helping to restore consumer trust and confidence.”

She added: “We now need to see the Commission come forward with a dedicated legislative proposal to ensure cyber security, data protection and fair competition with accessing vehicle data.”

Related Content

  • January 26, 2018
    To charge or not to charge, that is the question
    Alan Dron looks at why congestion charging and other similar schemes are so controversial in North America. In August, Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York State, described congestion charging for the city as “an idea whose time had come,” according to the Bloomberg wire service. In October, he announced a ‘Fix NYC’ advisory panel to study methods of easing congestion on the city’s streets. Although Cuomo did not specifically mention congestion charging when setting up the panel, he said it would study
  • May 18, 2012
    EU transport committee votes for cross-border enforcement of traffic offences
    Motorists who speed, ignore red lights or drink and drive when in a European country other than their own will be brought to book more easily, thanks to closer cooperation between European police forces and EU-wide enforcement of traffic rules, under plans approved yesterday by the European Parliament's transport committee. However, the UK and Ireland decided not to opt in to the system, while Denmark is entitled to opt out because the Council changed the legal basis of the directive from "transport" to "po
  • February 27, 2012
    More thought needed on ITS privacy and data protection
    It's long been the case that policy should drive technology and not the other way round.
  • June 6, 2019
    Continental: US road deaths are ‘public health crisis’
    The 40,000 deaths on US roads last year amount to a ‘public health crisis’, according to Continental North America’s president Jeff Klei. Giving the opening keynote address at ITS America’s 28th Annual Meeting & Expo, Klei said: “If you could save 40,000 lives a year, would you? We believe this situation needs to be treated with the same priority as other health crises in this country.” But help is at hand, he said. The concept of ‘Vision Zero’, where there are no fatalities from crashes, “seems a lon