French government told to re-assess Mercedes sales ban

Court orders government to re-examine reasons that led to refusal of new registrations.

A French court has lifted a ban on new registrations of Mercedes cars and given the French government ten days to re-assess its decision to halt sales over the use of a particular refrigerant. The ban will apply during that period.

The French authorities on 19 June stopped registrations of Mercedes A-Class, B-Class and SL cars manufactured after 12 June because of Daimler’s continued use of R134a, an air-conditioning coolant that has been banned in the European Union since January.

Daimler refuses to use a more climate-friendly alternative to R134a, citing failed safety tests. But the European Commission refused to grant Daimler an exemption from the ban of R134a.

Antonio Tajani, the European commissioner for industry and entrepreneurship, stressed last week (17 July) that Daimler was in violation of EU law with its continued use of R134a.

EU law does allow member states to deny registration of cars that have been approved in another member state if they present a serious risk to road safety or seriously harm the environment or public health. But EU law also obliges national authorities to notify the manufacturer and the European Commission in such cases, neither of which France has done, giving Daimler the grounds to challenge the government’s decision in court.

An administrative court in Versailles yesterday (25 July) ordered France’s environment ministry to re-examine its decision to stop the registration of new Mercedes cars because it had failed to follow the safeguard procedure set out in EU law. However, the court rejected Daimler’s demand to order the immediate resumption of registrations, which means that the ban continues to apply during the ten-day period given to the government to re-assess its decision.

Daimler said after the ruling that it was “confident” its sales in France – which account for around 2% of the carmaker’s global revenue – would resume soon. According to Daimler’s court documents, the registration ban has prevented the delivery of more than 4,500 cars to customers in France.

France’s environment ministry said in a statement that it had now formally activated the safeguard clause under relevant EU rules in order to maintain the ban.

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