Noerr has successfully represented Scania before the European Court of Justice

With a team led by Dominik Wendel, Fabian Hübener and Benedikt Lutz, NOERR has successfully represented its client Scania before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg (C-319/22).

The ECJ ruled that vehicle manufacturers are not required by the Type Approval Regulation (EU) 2018/858 to make vehicle data accessible to independent operators via a database interface that enables machine-controlled querying and downloading of the results.

The claimant, the German automobile parts association Gesamtverband Autoteile-Handel e.V., is involved in litigation before Cologne Regional Court with the defendant, Scania CV AB, regarding the form, content and scope of the obligations incumbent on manufacturers to provide vehicle, on-board diagnostics and repair and maintenance information (RMI) under the Type Approval Regulation. Cologne Regional Court submitted several questions to the ECJ, especially regarding the manner and format in which manufacturers must provide that information.

The most important question, one that has been debated for some time, was whether vehicle manufacturers must provide the required information by means of a machine-controlled query via a database interface that enables (mass) downloading of the results. The defendant argued that there is no requirement for such a database interface under the Type Approval Regulation.

The ECJ followed this line of argument, thus preserving vehicle manufacturers' sovereignty over their vehicle repair and maintenance information databases and preventing de facto devaluation of RMI by machine-controlled queries and (mass) downloads and access.

This good news comes at a time when the ECJ previously prohibited certain safety precautions on OBD interfaces to the detriment of vehicle manufacturers (ECJ, case C-296/22).

The ECJ’s decision also protects vehicle manufacturers from additional costs that would otherwise have been required to convert their IT infrastructure to include a database interface.

In addition, the ECJ stated its opinion on other questions concerning access to RMI. These include which search functions vehicle manufacturers' RMI databases must have and the legal interpretation of the term “machine-readable data” and data protection law when providing vehicle identification numbers (VINs). This is also important news as it sheds more light on how vehicle manufacturers can set up their RMI infrastructure.

Noerr was also successful in representing Peugeot SA and PSA Automobiles SA before the ECJ regarding permissible fee amounts for RMI access.

 

Advisors to Scania: Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB

Automotive & New Mobility:

Dominik Wendel (partner), Benedikt Lutz (senior associate, Brussels)

 

Antitrust & Competition

Fabian Hübener (associated partner, Brussels)

 

Data Protection

Daniel Rücker (partner, Munich), Korbinian Hartl (senior associate, Munich)