UK Government launches open consultation on improving road vehicles, air quality and safety

Fri 02 February 2018 View all news

The Government has launched an open consultation outlining its plans for change in the law which will hold vehicle importers and dealer-distributors to account if vehicles are sold with emissions so-called 'defeat devices'. Transport minister Jesse Norman is opening a consultation today outlining the new measures. 

The draft regulations include:

* new penalties for supplying a vehicle with a defeat device

* a new laboratory test procedure (WLTP) for measuring fuel consumption

* revised emissions and safety standards for specialist and converted vehicles

* stricter end of series derogations

Currently the UK government can only pursue manufacturers based in this country, meaning no retrospective prosecution could be made of the well-publicised Volkswagen Group UK emissions cheating admission in 2015 which affected 1.2 million cars and vans it had imported into in the UK.

“Those who cheat should be held to proper account in this country, legally and financially, for their actions,” said Mr Norman.

Consultation closes on 2 March 2018 and can be done via this smart survey link.


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