Today Volkswagen is publishing the third and final series of reports from an Environmental Management System special audit, conducted in 2019, which is required by the U.S. Department of Justice and California Third Partial Consent Decrees (“Consent Decrees”) entered into by Volkswagen in 2017.
The Consent Decrees require Volkswagen to retain an independent third party to conduct an EMS audit for calendar years 2017, 2018, and 2019, pursuant to an industrywide recognized standard, for the Product Development Processes utilized for vehicles to be certified for sale in the U.S.
These special audits have been conducted in three entities: Volkswagen AG, AUDI AG and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (“VW GoA”). They were audited separately and each has received its own report. VW GoA received a report for Engineering and Environmental Office in Auburn Hills, Michigan and Test Center California in Oxnard, California.
The audits were conducted by Bureau Veritas, an independent third party and one of the leading global companies in testing, inspection and certifications for management systems.
“We appreciate the important input delivered by the auditors, and we will continue in our quest for continuous improvements to our environmental management systems. We take the recommendations seriously and will ensure that they are responded to with appropriate measures. We aim to ensure that the measures to be implemented not only satisfy the requirements of the Consent Decrees, but also to strengthen our compliance culture and to generally benefit the environment and our customers as well as the company”, says Gerd Walker (Head Group Production).
The reports can be found as from today at https://www.vwcourtsettlement.com.