Brussels, 11 October 2016 – Ekhard Zinke, president of the Kraftfahrtbundesmt (KBA, Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Drivers) confirmed during a hearing of the Committee on Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector, that the ban of controversial switch-off devices was not clearly formulated in the mentioned EU regulation. The text did not allow the automobile manufacturers to see whether the emission standards for laboratory operations also applied for actual driving operation. Hans-Olaf Henkel, MEP of the German Party “Alliance for Progress and Renewal” and former president of the Association of German Industry (BDI), sees the main responsibility for the so-called dieselgate-scandal with the former Enterprise Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, whose department prepared the text of the regulation.

“Many of the vehicles registered in Europe exceed the limit of the current emission standard, because the European Commission under the leadership of Enterprise Commissioner Guenter Verheugen didn’t do his job. Obviously, the text was too complicated even for the European Parliament and the European Council, who were part of the legislative procedure”, said Hans-Olaf Henkel.

In response to Hans-Olaf Henkel’s former questions, Guenter Verheugen had already admitted on August 30, that the ban of switch-off devices and the conditions, under which the emission standards had to be fulfilled were not defined distinctly enough in regulation nr. 715/2007.

ENDS

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