(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, 09 LUG - A car manufacturer whose vehicles are illegally manipulated in an EU member country and then sold in other member countries may be sued before the courts of all the latter. That is what the EU Court said in a judgment. The case started after the Verein für Konsumenteninformation (VKI), an Austrian consumer protection association, filed a lawsuit before the Land Court in Klagenfurt (Carinthia) for damages against the German car manufacturer Volkswagen, due to the installation into vehicles purchased by Austrian consumers of a software manipulating the data relating to the emissions of exhaust gases. The association had requested Volkswagen to pay compensation, but Germany's car giant contested the jurisdiction of the Austrian judges, who then turned to the Court of Justice.

In today's judgment, the Court replies that, if certain vehicles have been illegally equipped in a Member State (Germany) by their manufacturer, to then be purchased in another Member State (Austria), the place where the damage took place is the latter Member State (Austria). (ANSA).