New Delhi: Many countries including France, Germany and Korea on Tuesday said they would check if Volkswagen’s vehicles adhere to emission standards after the German car maker admitted to cheating pollution detectors in the US.

India may not be able to do so, even if it wants to. Here’s why.

First, the US system of pollution checks is far more stringent than European norms, on which India has modelled its rules. In the US, vehicle manufacturers follow a self-certification process where no third-party approval is required in terms of homologation or independent checks. The vehicles are tested in-house by the manufacturer and they come to the market with the declaration that they meet all the norms. In such a situation, the manufacturer is far more responsible than third-party certifiers.

Europe and India follow the third-party system, where government-sponsored agencies such as Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) check if the vehicles meet local norms. Therefore, unless Europe finds out there is a problem with Volkswagen cars, any reaction from India is unlikely.

Second, discrepancies between declared and actual emission standards creep in if the vehicle manufacturer has not designed the product to meet local norms, which may not be the case with most of the popular Volkswagen vehicles in India.

Third, India does not have a system to check such issues. The transport ministry can ask the independent agencies to carry out checks, but that is not mandatory.

Fourth, Indian federal laws are designed in a way where vehicle safety is a state subject, while Centre is only responsible for the technologies which go into a vehicle. Centre does not have authority to penalize any company; they will have to direct state governments to act upon the matter.

This was perhaps the reason why nobody seems to know what happened to General Motors after it admitted to fudging emission-related data in India. The case was transferred to the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat since General Motors has factories in those states.

The state governments were expected to form a special investigative team to probe the matter. Little is known about it now. General Motors had recalled 114,000 units of its multi-utility vehicle Tavera to fix the problem. The central government had called it a “corporate fraud".

A new draft legislation on transport, which is open for public comments, seeks to address these issues but it may take some time to become a law.

Last but not the least, Volkswagen cars sold in the US were built to meet Euro VI norms, which is also used in the countries who have come forward to initiate a probe. In India, passenger vehicles comply with Euro IV norms even when the suitable fuel is only available in the top 50 cities. The rest of the country gets Euro III fuel.

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