Judgment of the Court Grand Chamber of 14 July 2022, Porsche Inter Auto and Volkswagen, C-145/20

• Date: 14 July 2022
• Year: 2022

25

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 July 2022, Volkswagen, C-1 34/20

Link to the full text of the judgment

Reference for a preliminar y ruling – Approximation of laws – Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 – Approval of

motor vehicles – Article 3(10) – Article 5(1) and (2) – Defeat device – Motor vehicles – Diesel engines–

Pollutant emissions – Emission control system – Software installed in the electronic engine controller –

Exhaust gas recirculation valve (EGR valve) – Reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions limited by a

‘temperature window’ – Prohibition on the use of defeat devices that reduce the effectiveness of emission

control systems – Article 5(2)(a) – Exception to that prohibition – Directive 1999/44/EC – Sale of consumer

goods and associated guarantees – Article 3(2) – Device installed during the repair o f a vehicle

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 July 2022, Porsche Inter Auto and

Volkswagen, C-145/20

Link to the full text of the judgment

Reference for a preliminar y ruling – Approximation of laws – Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 – Approval of

motor vehicles – Article 5(2) – Defeat device – Motor vehicles – Diesel engines – Emission control system –

Software installed in the electronic engine controller – Exhaust gas recirculation valve (‘EGR valve’) –

Reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions limited by a ‘temperature window’ – Prohibition on the use of

defeat devices that reduce the effectiveness of emission c ontrol systems – Article 5(2)(a) – Exception to

that prohibition – Consumer protection – Directive 1999/44/EC – Sale of consumer goods and associated

guarantees – Article 2(2)(d) – Concept of ‘goods which show the quality and performance which are

normal in goods of the same type and which the con sumer can reasonably expect, given the nature of the

goods’ – Vehicle covered by an EC type-approval – Article 3(6) – Concept of a ‘minor lack of conformity’

The objective of ensuring a high level of environmental protection within the European Union is

reflected, inter alia, by the adoption of measures to limit pollutant emissions. Accordingly, motor

vehicles have been the subject of increasingly res trictive legislation, in particular with the adoption of

Regulation No 715/2007 on type approval of motor vehicles.

49

That regulation aims, inter alia, to

reduce significantly the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel vehicles in order to improve air

quality and comply with limit values for pollution.

These three cases concern the purchase of vehicles equipped with software installed in the electronic

engine controller which, outside certain temperature conditions and above a certain driving altitude,

reduces the effectiveness of the exhaust gas recirculation s ystem (EGR), which results in the NOx

emission limit values laid down in Regulation No 715/2007 being exceeded.

Following an update of the software installed in the electronic engine controller, the purification of

exhaust gas is deactivated at an outside tempe rature of below 15 °C and above 33 °C, and at driving

altitude above 1 000 metres (‘the temperature window’) . Outside that window, per 10 °C and above an

altitude of 1 000 metres, per 250 metres of altitude, the rate of exhaust gas recirculation decre ases in

a linear way down to zero, meaning that NOx emissions increase beyond the limits of Regulation

No715/2007.

49

Regulation (EC) No715/2007 of the European Parl iament and of the Council of 20 June 2007 on type approval of motor vehicles with respe ct

to emissions from light passenger and commercial vehicles (Euro 5 and Euro 6) and on access to vehicle repair and maintenance information

(OJ 2007 L 171, p. 1).