INSIGHT: Criminal Liability Risk From Vehicle Diagnostic Issues

摘要

The auto industry may face new risks of criminal liability from an emerging federal enforcement strategy. For decades, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice have treated suspected violations of the Title Ⅱ“mobile source” provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) as civil cases. That changed after the 2015 Volkswagen emissions case-breaking from an understanding in the auto industry that the CAA’s criminal enforcement mechanism was limited to stationary sources under Title I, and does not contain a criminal enforcement mechanism for Title Ⅱ violations.