This book explains, compares and assesses the legal implications of Dieselgate within a range of selected jurisdictions and at the EU, international and comparative law level.
The book analyses the US EPA-VW $14.7 billion dollar settlement of 2016, one of the largest civil settlements in the history of environmental law. As it shows, the Dieselgate affair has raised a host of issues concerning corporate and social responsibility, tort liability, environmental liability, contractual defective products, warranty, and false environmental claims in a range of jurisdictions. Issues like repurchasing or retrofitting cars from consumers and making direct payments to consumers through car buy-backs and compensation are analysed. Further, the book relates how Dieselgate has also contributed to the discussion about the introduction of more effective collective measures of redress for consumers, such as class actions, in Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
The book subsequently reviews the criminal offences Volkswagen is currently confronted with in Germany, France and Italy, i.e. fraud and manipulation of capital markets (by belatedly providing shareholders with essential information relevant for the share value), and, potentially, environmental crimes. It demonstrates how Dieselgate has sparked new debates in Germany, Italy, France and the UK about the need to introduce enterprise liability for organised crimes, lack of compliance and control structures, and intentional violations of the law.
Lastly, the book discusses how EU law has sought to respond to Dieselgate and thus investigates the controversial EU Regulation No. 2016/646 introducing a "temporary conformity factor" of 2.1 (equivalent to a 110% increase on the current limit) to be applied for NOx in the new RDE testing cycle, and the works of the EU committee of inquiry into Emissions Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS).
Editor
Marco Frigessi di Rattalma
Professor of European Law, University of Brescia; Vice Chairman Climate Change and Insurance, Working Party, International Insurance Law Association AIDA – marco.frigessidirattalma@unibs.it
Authors
Sara Landini University of Florence, Florence, Italy
Joseph Allan MacDougald University of Connecticut School of Law, Hartford, CT, USA
Marisa Maraffino Law Firm Marraffino, Milan, Italy
Adolfo Paolini University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK, and DAC Beachcroft LLP, London, UK
Giorgio Pedrazzi University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
Gabriella Perotti University of Brescia, Law Department, Brescia, Italy
Giovanni Posio University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
Laurent Posocco Université de Corse Pascal Paoli, Corte, France
Francesca Romanin Jacur University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Christoph U. Schmid Centre of European Law and Politics (ZERP), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Stephen Turner DAC Beachcroft LLP, London, UK
