The two builders are accused of having marketed vehicles “especially calibrated” to “ensure respect for the regulatory standard relating to nitrogen oxide emissions, solely under the circulation conditions of the approval test. “
The French Public Prosecution Service requested the opening of a new lawsuit for aggravated burla against the Peugeot and Citroën automotive builders, suspected of marketing vehicles equipped with computer programs that delude anti -pollution tests, according to a source close to the process.
Contacted by the French news agency AFP, the lawyer of the two companies, Eric Dezeuze, declined to comment on this information.
According to the prosecutor’s accusation of 25 June, to which AFP had access, the two builders are accused of marketing vehicles “especially calibrated” to “ensure respect for the regulatory standard relating to nitrogen oxide emissions, solely under the circulation conditions of the approval test. “
“Under normal circulation conditions (…), the calibration used has led to a significant deterioration of the operation of pollution control devices, so the regulatory threshold of nitrogen oxide emissions was often exceeded,” added the prosecutor.
“Dangerous for Health”
The Public Prosecution Service proposes that the instruction judge, to whom the final decision on the making of a trial, consider that these facts have become the use of “dangerous for health” vehicles“namely favoring the appearance of respiratory diseases in humans,” which constitutes an aggravating circumstance.
Stellantis group’s two automotive builders were accused, respectively, on June 9 and 10, 2021 Vehicle sale to euro 5 diesel in France, between 2009 and 2015.
Companies are still appealing to the Paris Court of Appeal on this process.
In March, the Paris Public Prosecution Service had already requested a similar process for the German builder Volkswagen, accused of having equipped about one million vehicles with software that artificially reduced his polluting emissions during certification tests.
