In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 443/2009, the Commission is required to calculate each year the average specific emissions of CO₂ and the specific emissions target for each manufacturer of passenger cars in the Union as well as for each pool of manufacturers. On the basis of that calculation, the Commission is to determine whether manufacturers and pools have complied with their specific emissions targets.

The detailed data to be used for the calculation of the average specific emissions and the specific emissions targets is based on Member States' registrations of new passenger cars during the preceding calendar year.

All Member States submitted the 2015 data to the Commission in accordance with Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009. Where, as a result of the verification of the data by the Commission, it was evident that certain data were missing or manifestly incorrect, the Commission contacted the Member States concerned and, subject to the agreement of those Member States, adjusted or completed the data accordingly. Where no agreement could be reached with a Member State, the provisional data of that Member State was not adjusted.

On 13 April 2016, the Commission published the provisional data and notified 97 manufacturers of the provisional calculations of their average specific emissions of CO₂ in 2015 and their specific emissions targets. Manufacturers were asked to verify the data and to notify the Commission of any errors within three months of receipt of the notification. 44 manufacturers submitted notifications of errors within the given time limit.

For the remaining 53 manufacturers that did not notify any errors in the datasets or respond otherwise, the provisional data and provisional calculations of the average specific emissions and the specific emissions targets should be confirmed. For four manufacturers all vehicles reported in the provisional dataset were outside the scope of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009.

The Commission has verified the errors notified by the manufacturers and the respective reasons for their correction, and the dataset has been confirmed or amended.

In the case of records with missing or incorrect identification parameters, such as the type, variant, version code or the type approval number, the fact that manufacturers cannot verify or correct those records should be taken into account. As a consequence, it is appropriate to apply an error margin to the CO₂ emissions and mass values of those records.

The error margin should be calculated as the difference between the distances to the specific emissions target expressed as the specific emissions target subtracted from the average specific emissions calculated including and excluding those registrations that cannot be verified by the manufacturers. Regardless of whether that difference is positive or negative, the error margin should always improve the manufacturer's position with regard to its specific emission target.

In accordance with Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009, a manufacturer should be considered as compliant with its specific emissions target referred to in Article 4 of that Regulation where the average emissions indicated in this Decision are lower than the specific emissions target, expressed as a negative distance to target. Where the average emissions exceed the specific emissions target, an excess emission premium are to be imposed, unless the manufacturer concerned benefits from an exemption from that target or is a member of a pool and the pool complies with its specific emissions target. On that basis, two manufacturers are considered to exceed their specific emissions target for 2015.

On 3 November 2015 the Volkswagen Group made a statement to the effect that irregularities had been found when determining type approval CO₂ levels of some of their vehicles. While that issue has been thoroughly investigated, the Commission nevertheless finds that further clarifications are needed from the Volkswagen pool as a whole as well as a confirmation by the relevant national type approval authorities of the absence of any such irregularities. As a consequence the values for the Volkswagen pool and its members (Audi AG, Audi Hungaria Motor Kft., Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., Dr Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Quattro GmbH, Seat S.A., Skoda Auto A.S., and Volkswagen AG) cannot be confirmed or amended.

The Commission reserves the right to revise the performance of a manufacturer as confirmed or amended by this Decision, should the relevant national authorities confirm the existence of irregularities in the CO₂ emission values used for the purpose of determining the manufacturer's compliance with the specific emissions target.

The provisional calculation of the average specific emissions of CO₂ from new passenger cars registered in 2015, the specific emissions targets and the difference between those two values should be confirmed or amended accordingly,