In January this year German television found a new kind of manipulation. Soon after that the Swiss and now the Spanish and the Dutch have learned about found the same problem in their countries. Will the hunt for frauds soon begin in whole Europe?
First the Germans, then the Swiss and now the Spanish and the Dutch. The problem of manipulating the SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system has likely affected whole Europe so far.
Manipulations in Spain
Transport industry website diariodetransporte.com informs that the Spanish Police have recently intercepted 25 trucks, in which devices for manipulating the SCR systems were installed.
During the control in Zozaia city the police stopped a truck registered in Bulgaria, in which AdBlue emulator was detected. As a consequence, special programme were initiated by the Spanish services focused on such manipulation. In the course of the inspections the police officers have caught another 24 drivers who commited offences with the use of such emulators.
All the vehicles were immobilised, transported to authorised workshops, emulators were removed and the culprits are expected to be heavily fined. However, the exact values were not provided by diariodetransporte.com.
Problem in the Netherlands
A few days ago the Dutch TV channel „Undercover” disclosed that the case of AdBlue frauds involves larger number of transporters than it was previously believed. The common practice among Dutch is to switch off the SCR systems persistently.
Therefore the Natuur en Milieu (Nature and Environment) association called on the Dutch government to examine the practice in detail and impose severe punishment on dishonest companies. Such frauds are illegal in the Netherlands. Switching off the exhaust gas purification system in a truck is punished with two years imprisonment or a fine of EUR 20,000 (approximately PLN 87,000).
Truck manufacturers request for a ban on selling and advertising the emulators
The ACEA Organization representing the biggest truck manufactures in Europe has promptly responded to the problem. In February this year it has appealed to the European Commission to enforce the ban on advertising and selling the emulators. Furthermore, ACEA demands traffic inspections focused on detecting the devices in vehicles.
This was not the first reaction of the association – the manufacturers drew the Commitee’s attention to the problem in 2012. The Danish also reported some concerns about SCR frauds to the European Commission. At that time, however, Brussels believed the problem should be handled by the national supervision authorities. Will the Commission finally respond to the problem?