General Motors France indicted for false advertising
Dominique pialot
The Saab 9-3 BioPower, produced by the subsidiary of the recently disappeared American, is the first car to be officially accused of greenwashing in France, for an advertisement dating from 2007.
General Motors would undoubtedly have done without this "advertisement" in full publication of the banns of its marriage with PSA. The Paris Court of Appeal has yet to indict its French subsidiary, accused of having abused unfounded ecological arguments in an advertisement for a Saab model (which then belonged to the group) dating back to 2007.
Admittedly, the “greenwashing prices” have been flourishing for several years in France and around the world, and companies which are a little too easily “green” without their practices or their products really being are regularly pointed out. finger. The automotive sector figures prominently there. In November 2011, the “Pinocchio Sustainable Development Awards” organized by Friends of the Earth rewarded the Bolloré BlueCar (which equips the Parisian stations with Autolib ') and the agrofuels specialist Tereos.
But the request for indictment for "deceptive marketing practice" that the Paris Court of Appeal just asked for on February 23 is a first. It follows a complaint from the FNAUT (National Federation of Transport User Associations), filed with the constitution of a civil party against General Motors for "false advertising or in such a way as to mislead".
Consumption above the French average
At the origin of the business, an advertising insert appeared in the press in 2007, presenting the Saab 9-3 Bio Power as a car "more ecological, more economical and more efficient". But while these characteristics are directly linked to the use of E85 superethanol, containing 85% fuel from beet or cane, this condition was only shown in lower case. However, when it runs on unleaded petrol, this model is not particularly ecological: the FNAUT recalls that it displays a consumption of 200 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, while the average of vehicles put on the market at the time peaked at 149 grams.
Believing that "the offense of deceptive commercial practices was not constituted" and that "the quantity of CO2 emissions released was lower than that of a gasoline vehicle", the examining magistrate had not found "misleading "The qualification of" more ecological "and had pronounced a dismissal in October 2010. The public prosecutor's office, which had asked for confirmation after the appeal lodged by the FNAUT, was not followed by the Court of Appeal of Paris . Deeming the appeal admissible, it asks before pronouncing additional information within six months with an indictment of GM France for "deceptive commercial practice".
According to the Court, the use of the E85 agrofuel can in no way justify this qualifier of "more ecological", since "scientific studies are not categorical as to the low rate of release of CO2 from superethanol". The Court also retained the merits of FNAUT's complaint relating to the classification of the E85 as "natural fuel" since it was "the result of human manipulation in a manufacturing process". The Court concluded that this description "is likely to deceive an ordinary consumer". And agrofuels, find themselves indirectly splashed by the grounds of the complaint.
Source: http://www.latribune.fr/green-business/ ... ngere.html