The BUND (German League of Environment and the Protection of Nature) brought an application to the Administrative Court of Schleswig-Holstein concerning a ban on sales of newly produced vehicles operating on diesel fuel.

The applicant asked the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (Federal Motor Vehicle Transport Authority) for such a ban based on the argument that under real driving conditions many Euro-6-diesel vehicles exceed the emission limit value of 80 mg/km of nitric oxide set by the EU Regulation 715/2007.

The Administrative Court of Schleswig-Holstein denied the BUND’s application concerning a ban on diesel fuel vehicles, because it was not permissible under the cited EU Regulation. Even though in the future the compliance with current emission limit values is meant to be measured according to real life driving conditions, this is not yet the case. Therefore, the Court ruled that a ban cannot be applied to Euro-6-diesel vehicles that are admitted under the current inspection procedure for EU approval of vehicles. In order not to derogate from compelling EU law, the Court denied the application.