Court ruling shows Stuttgart diesel ban “justified” and “unavoidable”, says NGO
German NGO Environmental Action Germany (DUH) says a court ruling in Stuttgart on banning certain diesel models from entering the inner city showed the bans were “justified” and “unavoidable”. The group that originally filed the lawsuit said the ruling had to become effective by the beginning of 2018 at the latest. The court said that voluntary software updates for vehicles with manipulated emissions were inappropriate for protecting public health, warranting “immediate” action to reduce NOx levels in the city, the DUH said in a press release. DUH head Jürgen Resch called on Winfried Kretschmann, Green state premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg, to accept the ruling “for the sake of Stuttgart’s people”. Kretschmann told journalists on Monday his government would wait for the court’s statement before deciding whether to file an appeal.
Read the press release in German here and the court's statement in German here.
Get background in the CLEW article Merkel at second diesel summit: must avoid driving bans "by all means".