The committee, formed in response to the Volkswagen emission cheating scandal, will investigate:

• The Commission’s alleged failure to keep car test cycles under review;

• the alleged failure of the Commission and member states’ authorities to take proper and effective action to enforce and oversee enforcement of the explicit ban on “defeat devices” in cars' exhaust systems;

• the Commission’s alleged failure to introduce automotive tests reflecting the real-world driving conditions;

• the member states’ alleged failure to lay down provisions on effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties applicable to car manufacturers for infringements; and

• whether the Commission and the member states had evidence of the use of “defeat mechanisms” before the scandal emerged on 18 September 2015.

The EU is updating procedures for measuring emissions to better reflect real world driving conditions. The Commission has already adopted two out of four measures that will enable new tests—known as Real Driving Emissions (RDE) tests—to start in September 2017. Parliament and the Council are also looking into how to update car emissions rules.