REGULATION (EC) No 715/2007
When vehicle manufacturers trick with defeat devices, no amount of (criminal) cunning, resourcefulness or creativity is involved.
One should not think of this as the fight of David who by luck or brilliance found a hole in the full armor of the giant Goliath. The manufacturers did not find a loophole in the European Union‘s legislation. The European Union is not at all in the ungrateful role of Goliath. The concept of defeat devices was already well known in 2007. The implementation of this concept into practice was illegal, but in no way tricky or creative. This becomes clear from the REGULATION (EC) No 715/2007 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, Article 13 Penalties:
- Member States shall lay down the provisions on penalties applicable for infringement by manufacturers of the provisions of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify those provisions to the Commission by 2 January 2009 and shall notify it without delay of any subsequent amendment affecting them.
- The types of infringements which are subject to a penalty shall include:
- making false declarations during the approval procedures or procedures leading to a recall;
- falsifying test results for type approval or in-service conformity;
- withholding data or technical specifications which could lead to recall or withdrawal of type approval;
- use of defeat devices;
and - refusal to provide access to information.
