Car Emissions: Protecting Consumers and the Environment

Following an agreement between the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission today, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee has finally adopted new legislation that prevents repeating scandals regarding false measurement of car emissions, while introducing more objective and rigorous controls.  MEPs from the EPP Group pushed for these changes that lead to greater supervision and a higher level of consumer protection.

Ivan Štefanec (KDH), Head of the Slovak delegation, was the shadow rapporteur for the EPP Group."Our goal was not to punish the car makers, nor to introduce new control institutions that would cost more money. 

First of all, we wanted to achieve the highest degree of consumer protection against unfair practices and to increase the protection of our environment. It is essential that we will use existing institutions to achieve these goals and not create new ones. Checks on emission values will be carried out in real-time conditions and violations of the rules will be subject to higher fines than they have been up to now. At the same time, there will be an improved system of exchange of information between Member State authorities, which will provide better overview and control of the situation across the European Union. "The new legislation will take effect from September 2020.