Whoopsie! VW Skates on a Million-Euro Fine - Due to Paperwork Snafu
Auto giant Volkswagen falls short on paying millions in penalties due to non-compliance with regulatory requirements
When it rains, it pours! Volkswagen (VW) got lucky with a million-euro fine being waived, thanks to an administrative oversight.
VW was all set to pay for a four million euro fine due to data protection mishaps linked to the diesel debacle, but wait, hold up! The public prosecutor's office forgot to pen a signature on the official statement, as a spokesperson from the Hannover public prosecutor's office confirmed. So, much like a kid who forgot their homework, VW escaped paying the million-euro penalty!
The fine originated from data protection violations revolving around VW's handling of the diesel mess, which the data protection officer wasn't too pleased about. The issue at hand involves passing data to Larry Thompson, a supervisor appointed post-diesel scandal. VW reportedly didn't do a stellar job keeping their employees in the loop, breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Initially, VW managed to win its appeal against the fine at the Regional Court in Hannover, as the court sided with the automaker in February. However, the public prosecutor's office had to bite the dust on its appeal to the Higher Regional Court because – you guessed it – the written statement lacked the signature of the prosecutor responsible, according to the spokesperson. In other words, a technicality strike two for VW!
The spokesperson referred to this as a special case arising from a chain of unfortunate mishaps, attributing it to the excessive workload within the authority. The opposition CDU faction in the state parliament cried foul, calling it a predicament and planning to discuss the issue in the legal committee.
As for the lawsuit concerning the underlying data protection claim, VW wasn't exactly victorious either. The complaint wasn't dealt with by the Regional Court but rather the Administrative Court, where VW only achieved partial victory in their nail-biter of a case last week. While two of the five violations issued by Lower Saxony's data protection officer in 2023 were reversed, the crucial beef – insufficient data protection info – was upheld. The ruling is yet to be final, and VW still has the option of appealing to the Higher Administrative Court, but this won't affect the fine.
Remember, the diesel scandal surfaced in 2015, when deceitful emissions measurements in VW diesel engines were discovered in the U.S. The ongoing legal repercussions from the emissions manipulation have cost VW approximately 32 billion euros so far.
- Volkswagen
- Fine
- Bureaucracy
- Despite the fine originally being imposed due to VW's data protection violations, the automaker managed to evade a million-euro penalty because of an administrative oversight, as the public prosecutor's office missed a signature on the official statement.
- Recognizing the complexities and excessive workload within the authority, the spokesperson mentioned this circumstance as a unique case, but the opposition CDU faction in the state parliament expressed concerns, planning to discuss the issue in the legal committee, suggesting that bureaucratic errors may have indirectly aided VW's financial position in this business matter.
