In 2015, the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") started an investigation against Volkswagen Group Italia S.p.A. and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft ("VWGI" and "VWAG" and together "Volkswagen") for alleged unfair commercial practices and breach of the Italian Consumers Code. The investigation on Volkswagen was trigged by consumer associations' allegations of false declarations made by Volkswagen when marketing its EA 189 diesel vehicles in relation to (i) the level of polluting emissions of such vehicles (Volkswagen were accused to have installed the so-called defeat device to falsify the result of the emission tests) and to (ii) their specific green features. In 2016, the ICA's investigation ended: the ICA found Volkswagen liable for unfair commercial practices and for breach of articles 20, 21 and 23 of the Italian Consumers Code, as Volkswagen failed to describe the positive environmental impacts of their EA 189 diesel vehicles in a clear, truthful, accurate, and unambiguous way. Because of such breach, the ICA issued a fine of € 5 million. In 2016, Volkswagen appealed the decision issued by the ICA before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, seeking the annulment of the € 5 million fine.
With a decision issued in May 2019, the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio rejected Volkswagen's appeal confirming the ICA decision and the fine of € 5 million. The Administrative Court held that Volkswagen's green claims were misleading for the fact that, on one hand, Volkswagen emphasized its care for the environment, and, on the other hand, he installed in the marketed diesel vehicles a defeat device to falsify the result of the emission tests.
In 2019, Volkswagen appealed the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio's decision before the Supreme Administrative Court (Consiglio di Stato). The proceedings are still pending.
Case Documents:
No case documents are available.