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South Korea’s Ministry of Environment is taking steps to revoke the certification of around 79,000 automobiles representing 32 models sold by the Volkswagen Group since 2007 after learning that the group falsified the documents it submitted for certification.

The Ministry of Environment announced on July 11 that it had decided to hold a hearing on July 22 about revoking the company’s certification. This was in response to an official request for administrative measures, including a ban, it received from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors‘ Office on July 6.

A team of prosecutors who have been investigating charges of illegal tampering with equipment supposed to reduce exhaust fumes on vehicles sold by the Volkswagen Group informed the Ministry that they had confirmed that the group had forged certification documents related to vehicle exhaust and noise levels.

A total of 32 models of vehicles will be affected if the Ministry revokes certification. These include 22 models whose exhaust gas documentation was manipulated, eight models whose noise level documentation was manipulated and two models whose exhaust gas and noise level documentation were both manipulated.

Since Volkswagen sold as many as 14 sub-models of cars for each model that was certified by the Ministry of Environment, a total of 79 sub-models of Volkswagen vehicles - including the Gold GTD BMT, the Jetta 2.0 TDI BMT and the Audi A6 3.0 TFSI Quattro - will be subject to the measures.

The Ministry estimated that a total of 79,000 vehicles will be affected by the cancelation of certification, including about 61,000 vehicles from 18 certified models of diesel-powered sedans and about 18,000 vehicles from 14 certified models of gasoline-powered sedans. This represents around 26% of the 300,000 vehicles that the Volkswagen Group has sold in South Korea from 2007 until last month.

In Nov. 2015, the Ministry concluded that Volkswagen had illegally manipulated the exhaust gas reduction equipment on 125,515 vehicles (from 15 models and 28 sub-models). The Ministry took a number of administrative measures including revoking these models’ certification, banning their sale, imposing a fine and filing a complaint against the South Korean branch of the group and against the branch’s president with the prosecutors.

The 32 models that the prosecutors in charge of the investigation asked the Ministry to ban are not the same as the 15 models that the Ministry previously banned.

If the Ministry of Environment decides to revoke these models’ certification, the sales ban will go into effect on the 27 models (out of the 32 models that prosecutors confirmed were certified on the basis of falsified documents) that are currently on the market.

In a position statement released on Monday, Audi Volkswagen Korea said that it would decide what measures to take - legal or otherwise - as soon as it receives official instructions from the Ministry of Environment.

When Nissan Korea was ordered to stop selling its Qashqai SUV because it had manipulated exhaust emissions, it filed an administrative lawsuit.

By Kim Jeong-su, senior staff writer

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