Driving bans on diesel cars: the four options of the Federal Administrative Court

02/22/2018

Driving bans on diesel cars How environmental aid wants to help diesel drivers with their lawsuit

The Federal Administrative Court will decide on Thursday on driving bans for diesel cars in German cities. The judges in Leipzig examine in the final instance whether such prohibitions may be imposed in the fight against the nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution. The developments in the news blog.

12.00: The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has several options to decide on the action of the German Environmental Aid:

1. The OVG rejects the revision – clearing away for driving bans.

The judges can reject the revision of the state governments of Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia against the judgments of the lower courts. Thus, the decisions of the courts in Stuttgart and Dusseldorf would endure. It would remain that the city authorities are obliged to improve the air pollution control plans and anchor it in a certain passenger cars. Around 20 other municipalities also sued by the Deutsche Umwelthilfe would have to determine in which streets driving bans should apply and who receives exemptions, such as disabled residents or craftsmen, whose cars emit more pollutants than allowed. Since the authorities are likely to be busy longer, a driving ban is not introduced overnight. In addition, a practical problem would have to be solved: there is currently no uniform prohibition sign in Germany.

2. The revision is granted – no driving bans

If the judges grant the revision and find that driving bans are not allowed under current law, the judgments of the lower courts would have to be changed. The cities would then not be obliged to impose restrictions on road traffic. The pressure on the auto industry would subside.

At the deliberations, the judges also have the fundamental rights in view. In doing so, they must balance the right to physical integrity with a healthy environment on the one hand and freedom of occupation on the other. Craftsmen and commuters, for example, would have to face significant restrictions if their diesel transporters were banned from the city center.

Even if the revision should succeed, the federal government should, however, be forced to drastic steps in the reduction of pollutants. The EU Commission has already initiated infringement proceedings because of the high level of nitrogen oxide pollution in metropolitan areas, which could lead to legal action before the European Court of Justice. Similar to the car industry, politics considers a package of measures to be necessary and also relies on retrofitting, alternative propulsion systems, more flexible traffic control or public transport. Driving bans could still come when the policy decides to a Blue Badge, which allows only cleaner diesel cars entering cities.

3. The European Court of Justice comes into play

Another scenario is that the Federal Administrative Court initially seeks advice from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on the European air quality standards. The Leipzig judges had chosen such a procedure in the proceedings over the Elbe pit between Hamburg and the North Sea. If they also want to obtain the advice in Luxembourg on the driving bans, the procedure should take longer.

4. The judges continue to investigate

As a fourth possibility, the Federal Administrative Court could overturn the judgments of the lower courts and remand the dispute to Stuttgart and Dusseldorf. The judges there could be asked to investigate unanswered questions. Although this alternative is considered unlikely, it is not altogether excluded.

11.00 clock: Under a high number of visitors began on Thursday morning in Leipzig, the trial of the Federal Administrative Court on diesel driving bans in cities. The plaintive German environmental aid (DUH) is confident in the day: “Health protection enjoys a high value in the constitution,” said DUH lawyer Remo Klinger in the morning in Leipzig. He was therefore “very confident” that the court would pronounce on the legality of driving bans.

10.30 am: The German Association of Towns and Municipalities spoke out against restricted zones in German cities. “Driving bans would hit the lifeblood of the cities, and we definitely want to avoid that,” said traffic expert Timm Fuchs. It was “of course important that limits are met”. However, measures already taken are effective.

9:20 – The German Environmental Aid (DUH) sees their complaints against the air pollution control plans of many cities as an aid to diesel owners to enforce claims. “If a diesel driving ban comes, then diesel vehicles are suddenly threatened and affected by driving bans, which means that the owners have a right to demand rework from manufacturers or just a return,” said Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch in the ARD Morgenmagazin.

9:00 am – The German Association of Cities charges the federal government with being too lenient with the car manufacturers. The hardware retrofitting of diesel engines is the task of the automotive industry, said chief executive Helmut Dedy in the Bayerischer Rundfunk. Only if something happens there will there be a solution. The federal government must talk to the auto industry “Tacheles”.

8.34 Clock – The FDP also wants to make car manufacturers pay for the retrofitting of diesel vehicles to effectively reduce their pollutants. Her Member of Parliament Daniela Kluckert, chair of the Bundestag Transport Committee, warned on Thursday in the ARD morning magazine before driving bans on dirty diesel. Such driving bans led to the owners of diesel cars being expropriated. Something completely different is the retrofitting.

8:12 – ADAC CEO Alexander Möller calls for the retrofitting of old diesel vehicles and in the cities offers, so that people on public transport could change. Everything had to be done to prevent driving bans, he told Südwestrundfunk.

8.00 clock – Greens faction leader Anton Hofreiter has designated the upcoming court decision on diesel driving bans as a result of idleness in the federal government. “The federal government has laid hands on the lap for many years and left people in the cities with the nitrogen oxides alone,” said Hofreiter the German Press Agency before the trial at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig on Thursday. The federal government must give the cities a blue plaque on the hand. This should be marked relatively clean cars to regulate driving bans.

Negotiation in Leipzig on “jump revision” starts at 11 o’clock

7:00 am – The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig is negotiating on Thursday (11:00 am) whether driving bans for diesel cars in cities are legally permissible. A verdict on Thursday is considered possible. It could have a nationwide signal effect. For many years, pollution limits have not been met in many cities. This is about nitrogen oxides, which are considered harmful to health. According to the Federal Environmental Agency, the traffic sector, especially diesel cars, accounts for around 60 percent of the load.

The Federal Administrative Court does not negotiate whether driving prohibitions are to be introduced. It is in Leipzig to the question of whether cities can order driving bans under applicable law and thus without a uniform national regulation to comply with emission limits.

Negotiations are held on a so-called leap revision of the states of Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia against judgments of the administrative courts in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf. Following a complaint by the German Environmental Aid (DUH), these authorities had obliged the authorities to tighten their air quality plans so that the limit values for pollutants were complied with as quickly as possible.

Image: GREENPEACE, REUTERS

The Stuttgart court had called driving bans for diesel cars as “most effective” measure. The Duesseldorfer court judged, driving prohibitions would have to be “seriously examined”. The federal states argue that there are legal uncertainties and that there is no uniform nationwide regulation.

Above all, it would have a signal effect if the Federal Administrative Court rejects the revisions. Thus, the judgments of the lower courts would be final. Such a verdict of the Federal Administrative Court would be by far the most politically significant. The judges in Leipzig would thus virtually clear the way for driving bans. Whether or not this exists will be up to the individual cities and district governments. There is no automaticity. It could take weeks or months for driving bans to really get into the respective air quality plans

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