Germany to get tough on dirty diesels by empowering city bans

Berlin

GERMAN towns and cities plagued by car and truck pollution will soon get the legal tools they need to ban older diesel vehicles from streets where emissions are highest.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government will remove the legal uncertainty that has made town mayors and councils hesitate from banning older diesel vehicles from their streets, said Deputy Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth. The ordinance will be enacted this year, he said in Berlin on Thursday. Limits on nitrogen oxide, or NOx, emissions set by the European Union are regularly breached on German roads.