Industry News
EU can fine car companies for exceeding CO2 target, MEPs advised
15th May 2008
Lawyers advising the European Parliament have confirmed that the European Commission does have the right to fine car makers which don’t meet future CO2 emissions targets.
A German MEP, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, had claimed a fine was a financial measure which required unanimous approval by all 27 member states, and thus the Commission’s proposal for a maximum of 130 g/km of CO2 emissions by 2012 could not be enforced. But an opinion from the Parliament’s legal advisers, which has not been published but was reported by the news service Ends Europe Daily, says the planned fines “cannot be regarded as a measure of fiscal nature” but are “dministrative penalties” like those in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
(T&E Bulletin 168, 15 May, www. transportenvironment.org.)
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