Flanders equips inspection centres to combat particulate filter fraud

Flanders is joining the fight against particulate filter fraud. By 2020, Flemish Minister of Mobility Ben Weyts wants to equip all inspection centres with PN meters that measure dust particulates to check whether a particulate filter is defective or has been removed. “We are the first in Europe to introduce these advanced tests,” says Minister Weyts.

Deliberate fraud

In this country, there are many cars on the road without a particulate filter or with a particulate filter that no longer works. And that is often deliberate. Currently, however, crooked drivers rarely get caught, because existing control methods do not sufficiently detect a missing particulate filter. Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels have joined forces to detect particulate filter fraud. They had several types of PN meters tested, one of which stood out as the best.

International pioneers

The three regions will now lay down a legislative framework for a new emission measurement, with applicable measuring procedures and a rejection limit. The emission measurements and use of PN meters must become a reality in all inspection centres as from 2020. “In this way, we are international pioneers in the fight against particle filter fraud. There will be an end to the impunity. We will develop a legal framework ourselves to equip the first inspection centres with these devices as quickly as possible,” Ben Weyts concludes.