#CarEmissions: Kathleen Van Brempt to chair EMIS committee

The Committee of inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS) elected its chair and four vice-chairs at a constituent meeting on Wednesday morning, thus officially starting its one-year mandate.

Members elected the chair, Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, BE) by acclamation. Afterwards Van Brempt said: "I'm looking forward to working with everybody in this inquiry committee in an efficient way. We should ensure that the environmental legislation in place is robust, ambitious and bulletproof; and secondly, that this legislation is properly implemented and enforced ".

As vice-chairs, the committee elected, also by acclamation:

•             Ivo Belet (EPP, BE);
•             Mark Demesmaeker (ECR, BE);
•             Kateřina Konečná (GUE/NGL, CZ);
•             Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, FR).

The committee will investigate:

• the Commission’s alleged failure to keep car test cycles under review,

• the alleged failure of the Commission and member states’ authorities to take proper and effective action to enforce and oversee enforcement of the explicit ban on “defeat devices” in cars' exhaust systems,

• the Commission’s alleged failure to introduce automotive tests reflecting the real-world driving conditions,

• the member states’ alleged failure to lay down provisions on effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties applicable to car manufacturers for infringements, and

• whether the Commission and the member states had evidence of the use of “defeat mechanisms” before the scandal emerged on 18 September 2015.

The EMIS committee will meet again on 22 March from 15.00 to 18.30.

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