Volkswagen shouldn’t be hit twice over Dieselgate, EU court aide says

Volkswagen shouldn’t be punished twice by different EU states for the same offences linked to the Dieselgate scandal, an adviser to the EU’s top court said.

If VW was punished in Germany, Italy’s competition authority shouldn’t be able to impose another one for unfair commercial practices because that “infringes, in principle, the right not to be tried or punished twice for the same offence,” according to a summary of a non-binding opinion by advocate-general Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona of the EU Court of Justice.

VW has been engulfed in disputes with drivers who want their money back for the loss in value of their diesel cars because of the software manipulation exposed by a US regulator in September 2015. The EU’s top court has issued a series of rulings, including a decision in 2020 saying the use of defeat devices, which helped the carmaker bypass diesel engine pollution tests, can’t be justified under the bloc’s rules. 

VW said the opinion backs its view and it’s confident the court’s ruling will do the same.

The company “has been comprehensively and conclusively sanctioned for the misconduct of its employees in connection with the diesel issue” and “further punishment” in other countries over the same issue “is no longer permissible under European law”, it said.

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