Britain FIGHTS BACK against EU: Government furious at 'EXTRAORDINARY' Brussels court case
BRITAIN is set to take on the European Commission over it’s “extraordinary” decision to bring legal action against the UK over the EU car emissions scandal.
The British government said they will respond in the 'strongest terms'
Transport bosses said they will respond in the “strongest terms” to the action, which could see UK officials dragged before the European Court of Justice over claims it failed to set up systems to catch car manufacturers that violated European Union car emission laws.
The UK is also accused of failing to punish those who gave false results in tests for dangerous nitrogen oxide emissions.
The so-called Dieselgate scandal broke last year when German manufacturer Volkswagen admitted using sophisticated, software-based techniques to make sure their cars pass official tests despite emitting far higher levels of pollution.
SMMT: No evidence other companies involved in VW scandal
Volkswagen was forced to cough up £11.9billion
The UK will be responding in the strongest terms
Volkswagen was forced to cough up $15billion (£11.9billion) and recall 482,000 diesel cars in America which contained illegal defeat devices.
Eleven million cars worldwide were fitted with the software, including 1.2million in the UK.
The European Commission will send letters of formal notice actions against a total of seven countries on the grounds they disregarded EU vehicle type approval rules.
Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania and Luxembourg are also being targeted in the legal action.
The UK is also accused of failing to punish those who gave false results in emission tests
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European Union law says national watchdogs and authorities are responsible for making sure manufacturers do not violate EU legislation.
But a spokesman for the Department of Transport said: “We are surprised by this extraordinary step by the Commission as we have had legislation in place since 2009 to tackle this issue and made this clear to them earlier this year.
The Dieselgate scandal broke last year
“The UK will be responding in the strongest terms.”