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Industry News
EPA Revs Up Engine Emissions Enforcement Program
The recent news about EPA’s enforcement action
against Volkswagen for alleged noncompliance with
EPA’s emissions control requirements has shocked
the vehicle industry and marks the beginning of an
enforcement resolution process that has already se-
verely impacted the company and its reputation, will
take years to resolve, and could involve criminal
prosecutions. The events are shocking because
they involve a household name in the auto industry
and a company long-regulated by EPA’s mobile
source emissions requirements. This case will no
doubt draw a great deal of attention to the low profile
regulation of mobile source emissions that relatively
few business and attorneys are ever exposed to.
However, for the last decade or so, EPA has fo-
cused intense enforcement scrutiny on mobile
sources, particularly those regulated engines and
equipment imported from China. The bulk of these
products have been off-road vehicles and equip-
ment, such as ATVs, UTVs, off-road motorcycles,
generators, and lawn and garden equipment. This
initiative has caught numerous U.S. businesses off-
guard, particularly in the retail sector, as EPA has
often chosen to pursue U.S. retailers of these prod-
ucts, due to the difficulty often encountered in pursu-
ing Chinese companies. It has come as an unpleas-
ant surprise to unlucky U.S. retailers that their vehi-
cle, equipment, or engine supplier has failed to meet
EPA regulatory requirements, and an especially rude
awakening when EPA seeks to hold the retailer or
distributor, rather than the manufacturer, liable for
what may be viewed as the failings of the foreign
manufacturers. More than one U.S. company has
been driven out of business due to EPA’s enforce-
ment discretion for failures of the manufacturer and
of a magnitude far less serious than the current alle-
gations against Volkswagen. But such is the regula-
tory environment under the Clean Air Act for the mo-
bile source emissions industry. Knowledgeable
counsel, familiar with EPA’s enforcement initiative
targeting imported engines and equipment, may be
able to assist entities with questions.
Reference:
http://www.swlaw.com/attorneys/michael_fordarticle by Michael Ford
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