Diesel scandal: no software update without license – Munich

• If you refuse to install a software update after the diesel scandal, you should expect your car to be removed from circulation.
• This was decided by the Munich Administrative Court as part of a pilot procedure. Six car owners had sued.
• However, the court advocates a "measured approach". Before the withdrawal of the authorization, for example, a penalty should first be threatened.

The city of Munich may prohibit diesel car owners from driving their vehicles if they refuse to gamble after the software update of the diesel scandal. This was decided by the Munich Administrative Court as part of a pilot procedure. Six car owners had sued. They had been banned from continuing their cars – all from the VW group. The decision is revealing of the 100 similar cases currently pending before the administrative court.

Christina Christmann is one of the applicants. In 2015, she bought her Audi, an A4 Avant. What he tasted, they can not say, in the price schedules, diesel models start at just over 36 000 €. Christmann, 27, is a customs officer at Munich Airport. "The planes taking off and landing are more and more numerous," she says. "And am I no longer allowed to go to work with my car?"

This is understandable from the point of view of the owner of the car, even if this contradicts the old legal principle that "there is no equality in the wrong": if others pollute the environment, this does not give to anyone the right to pollute even the air. Dietmar Wolff, president of the 23rd Chamber of the Parliament, therefore repeated several times during the trial that the diesel drivers were "do not know the culprits", which is why he advised the administrative authorities to "take moderate measures ".

However, Wolff also says that the ordinance on the registration of vehicles justifies the actions of the authorities. The complexity of the legal situation becomes evident in the process in which, next to the state capital, the Landratsämts Landsberg am Lech and Erding sit next to the defendant: these are cars with a Illegal Checking Device, whose owners do not participate in the recall of participating manufacturers and can not play a software update. The Münchner Kreisverwaltungsreferat (KVR) has banned the use of these vehicles with immediate effect. Landsberg has allowed car owners to move around, especially in the workshop, after which they add to the update and the installation. Erding also made a tough decision at first, but then reacted in a mixed way, as did the Landsbergers from the beginning – "you will learn with time," said a representative of the Erdinger Authority.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that prohibition notices come into force when they are directed against them – that is how the Bavarian authorities act, while the administrative courts of other countries initially had to rule on the suspensive effect in summary proceedings. This has already happened several times, with different results. Christina Christmann, for example, is currently allowed to continue her Audi without updating, while car owners in Düsseldorf or Stuttgart are forced to walk, while the courts of Karlsruhe and Sigmaringen have given her the right to . The Munich procedure is now the first nationally, in which the essential is decided.

800 car owners in Munich have not yet added the update

Plaintiffs' lawyers claim the property rights of their clients – as well as the alleged harms resulting from the update of the car's software: "We are talking about the state's compulsion to harm us", has said one of the lawyers. Plus, people were just buying their diesel cars because the manufacturers had announced environmental benefits. And finally: there are vehicle owners – they understand Christmann – who would have received the inspection plate during the main investigation, even though it was clear that the on-board computer , the old fraudulent software, is running. Apparently, testing organizations do not agree on how to handle the issue.

The authorities felt that they had almost no room for maneuver: if car owners were now allowed not to participate in the recall, what would be the next action, for example on which vehicles because of the weakness of the brakes in the workshop? "Since these owners would rightly ask why they should do it, but not the diesel drivers."

The representative of the Munich KVR said that after all, it was about the health of citizens: "Since the interest must resign, continue the dirty car." According to KVR, 164 cars were banned in Munich; About 800 car owners have been contacted so far because they have not played the update yet.

However, the verdict that Wolff and his colleagues spoke after a two-hour hearing is clear: the actions of the authorities are correct, the circulation of cars without updating may be prohibited. However, the court also reiterated Wolff's request to "act moderately" in the reasons for judgment: for example, forced retirement should not be ordered immediately, but previously threatened with a penalty. And this allows the appeal to the administrative court. As long as it has not been decided, Christina Christmann can continue to drive to the airport with her Audi.