Britain says it will respond strongly to the European Union's decision to initiate legal action against it and six other countries for failing to police emissions test cheating by car makers after the Volkswagen scandal.
"We are surprised by this extraordinary step by the Commission as we have had legislation in place since 2009 to tackle this issue and made this clear to them earlier this year," a spokesman at the Department for Transport said on Thursday.
"The UK will be responding in the strongest terms."
Germany, Britain, Spain and Luxembourg stand accused of not imposing the same kind of penalties VW faced in the United States over its use of illegal software to mask emissions of health-harming nitrogen oxide (NOx) on tests.
The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, has further called Germany and Britain to account for refusing to share details on breaches of EU emissions laws uncovered in national investigations this year.
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Germany, the Union's leading power and by far its biggest car maker, complains that current EU laws are poorly framed.
"National authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law," European Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said in a statement.
Another three countries - the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Greece - have been spotlighted for not even including within national legislation the possibility of fining Europe's biggest industry over potential violations.
