As announced on the 7th of September, national consumer authorities of all EU Member States, spearheaded by the Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) along with the EU Commission sent a joint letter to the Volkswagen Group reminding them to honour their commitment to take ‘confidence building measures’ such as repair cars of affected consumers.[1] Volkswagen had previously committed to the Commission to repair all affected cars by autumn 2017. The letter requests that Volkswagen individually informs consumers about the repairs and makes legally-binding assurances that the car’s overall performance will be retained post-repair. Furthermore, the letter asks for an extension of the deadline for free repairs should it not be completed in autumn 2017.
This is an important development as it is the first time that EU Member States take a unified stance to address the VW scandal, making use of Regulation 2006/2004 on Consumer Protection Cooperation.
It has
been two years since the scandal broke that Volkswagen fitted its diesel cars
with software suppressing the emission und testing conditions; yet, redress for
EU consumers is proving elusive. The situation in the EU is in stark contrast
with that of the US, where regulators took swift action leading to Volkswagen admitting
guilt and paying billions of dollars in compensation to consumers.
This
initiative by consumer authorities follows the efforts made by consumer
organisations and law firms across the EU to coordinate in bringing legal
action against Volkswagen in different jurisdictions. The Netherlands are again
leading on this front, as they have filed a large class action cooperating with
other Member States such as the UK. So far, Volkswagen has benefitted from the
EU system which leaves enforcement to the Member States, as can be seen in the
reluctance of Volkswagen to commit to legally binding action.
Volkswagen’s
response to this joint letter will show whether the cooperation of the national
authorities will benefit EU consumers and this blog will continue to cover the
developments. While the letter is a welcome initiative, it does not address the
main hurdle in getting redress for consumers, which are the disparities between
national laws. Although the Member States are willing to cooperate, any legally
binding action will be taken on a national level.
The
Volkswagen scandal has been an example of a global consumer challenge that
calls for the EU to take a uniform stance. However, the current regulatory
framework has proven inadequate in protecting consumers. This raises the question:
should enforcement of EU consumer law be centralised in such cases to
effectively protect consumers or is this a matter best left to the Member
States? What do you think? Please share your view in the comments.
