VW Rebuffs Suggestions That It Violated Consumer Laws In 20 EU Countries

Reuters claims that in a letter to EU Consumer Commissioner Vera Jourova dated 7 September, Volkswagen maintains it was not in violation of the two regulations identified by Jourova - the Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive and the Unfair Commercial Practises Directive. The company added that a technical fix had been established and was already available for over 50 per cent of the affected vehicles across the 28 EU countries. Signed by Thomas Steg, VW's head of public affairs, the letter stated, "We therefore, believe there is no room or need for any additional compensation."

A previous Reuters report also stated that European Commission's Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska's request to VW regarding voluntarily compensate EU consumers in a similar fashion to the one in the US failed to receive "an encouraging response".

Earlier this year, the auto major reached a settlement deal in the US, according to which it is to disburse over USD 15 billion as compensation. VW will either buy back or repair the affected vehicle and pay each owner as much as USD 10,000 per car in the country. However, appeals for a similar compensation scheme in Europe were quickly dismissed by Matthias Mueller, CEO, Volkswagen AG. He had told Welt am Sonntag, a German newspaper, that such a settlement in the continent would not only be costly, but also "inappropriate".