The Department for Transport (DfT) is planning to crack down on carmakers fitting emissions defeat devices, with a set of new laws that would bring in stiff penalties for those caught cheating.
The proposed rules are set out in a DfT consultation document, which details the Government’s intention to make it an offence to supply a new car fitted with “a defeat device…that has the aim of deliberately circumventing type approval regulations.”
The DfT’s document highlights penalties already exist for manufacturers caught “committing misconduct” during the type approval process, where cars are assessed to ensure they meet regulatory requirements, including carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions levels.
• New WLTP/RDE fuel economy and emissions tests could still be unrealistic
But the DfT feels these laws do not go far enough, and wants to create a new “civil and/or criminal offence” of supplying a car with a defeat device designed to circumvent the emissions-testing element of the type approval process.
If approved, this new law would prohibit manufacturers and dealers from selling, or even registering, a car with such a device fitted. The rules would also apply to vehicle importers and distributers. Rather than prison sentences for guilty employees, however, it is believed unlimited fines could be imposed on manufacturers.
Announcing the proposed new laws, transport minister Jesse Norman said: “Those who cheat should be held to proper account in this country, legally and financially, for their actions.”
Other potential changes introduced in the document include a proposed date of 1 January 2019, by which point carmakers’ literature should reference new WLTP economy figures, instead of mpg data based on the outgoing NEDC regulations. CO2 levels, meanwhile, should be measured according to WLTP standards by 6 April 2020, bringing them in-line with road and company car tax calculations, which will refer to WLTP criteria from that date.
How Brexit will impact the UK car industry is also opened for debate by the consultation. While the DfT’s document highlights the Government’s intention to “negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation” until exit negotiations are completed, the DfT is asking citizens if the UK’s type approval processes should run “parallel” the EU’s post Brexit, or if new provisions should be introduced.
Low-volume manufacturers of electric cars, meanwhile, would be regulated by the same rules as larger-scale EV makers. This would ensure that “the unwary” are “unlikely to electrocute themselves while poking around under a car bonnet.” The consultation runs until 2 March 2018.
Do you agree with the DfT? Should their be stiffer penalties for those caught cheating?
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