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Czech Republic Joining Italy to Fight Carmakers' CO2 Fines

Skoda Auto cars are seen at the production line as the carmaker launches production of MEB battery systems in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, May 17, 2022. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo
Skoda Auto cars are seen at the production line as the carmaker launches production of MEB battery systems in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, May 17, 2022. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo
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Czech Republic Joining Italy to Fight Carmakers' CO2 Fines

Skoda Auto cars are seen at the production line as the carmaker launches production of MEB battery systems in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, May 17, 2022. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo
Skoda Auto cars are seen at the production line as the carmaker launches production of MEB battery systems in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, May 17, 2022. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo

The Czech Republic will join Italy in seeking to prevent carmakers from facing heavy penalties from next year when tougher CO2 emission rules take effect in the European Union, Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka said on Sunday.

Kupka said carmakers will face problems meeting new targets due to falling demand for electric vehicles in Europe, adding that the two countries had agreed on Friday to present their joint stance this week when EU leaders meet in Budapest.

Starting in 2025, the EU will lower a cap on average emissions from new vehicle sales to 94 grams/km from 116g/km. Exceeding that cap could lead to fines of 95 euros ($103) per excess CO2 g/km multiplied by the number of vehicles sold.

Carmakers face trouble adjusting their ranges to meet those targets, Kupka said, Reuters reported.

"They cannot do it because interest in electric cars is falling in all of Europe," Kupka told a Sunday debate show on broadcaster CNN Prima News. He said carmakers would lack money to finance research and development if they are forced to pay fines.

The Czech Republic is among a group of EU countries pushing back against the bloc's so-called Green Deal to tackle climate change and curb pollution. The tougher limits next year are a step towards plans to ban sales of new combustion engine vehicles in 2035.

The car industry contributes around 9% of GDP in the Czech Republic, a country of 10.9 million which made 1.4 million cars in 2023, making it one of Europe's biggest per-capita producers.

Three carmakers operate in the country - Volkswagen's Skoda Auto, Hyundai Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp.

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US Supreme Court Tosses Case Involving Securities Fraud Suit against Facebook

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
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US Supreme Court Tosses Case Involving Securities Fraud Suit against Facebook

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)

The US Supreme Court sidestepped on Friday a decision on whether to allow shareholders to proceed with a securities fraud lawsuit accusing Meta's Facebook of misleading investors about the misuse of the social media platform's user data.
The justices, who heard arguments in the case on Nov. 6, dismissed Facebook's appeal of a lower court's ruling that had allowed a 2018 class action led by Amalgamated Bank to proceed. The Supreme Court opted not resolve the underlying legal dispute, determining that the case should not have been taken up. Its action leaves the lower court's decision in place, Reuters reported. 
The court's dismissal came in a one-line order that provided no explanation. The Facebook dispute was one of two cases to come before the Supreme Court this month involving the right of private litigants to hold companies to account for alleged securities fraud. The other one, involving the artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, was argued on Nov. 13. The Supreme Court has not ruled yet in the Nvidia case.
The plaintiffs in the Facebook case claimed the company unlawfully withheld information from investors about a 2015 data breach involving British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that affected more than 30 million Facebook users. They accused Facebook of misleading investors in violation of the Securities Exchange Act, a 1934 federal law that requires publicly traded companies to disclose their business risks. Facebook's stock fell following 2018 media reports that Cambridge Analytica had used improperly harvested Facebook user data in connection with Donald Trump's successful US presidential campaign in 2016. The investors have sought unspecified monetary damages in part to recoup the lost value of the Facebook stock they held.
At issue was whether Facebook broke the law when it failed to detail the prior data breach in subsequent business-risk disclosures, and instead portrayed the risk of such incidents as purely hypothetical.
Facebook argued that it was not required to reveal that its warned-of risk had already materialized because "a reasonable investor" would understand risk disclosures to be forward-looking statements. President Joe Biden's administration supported the shareholders in the case.
US District Judge Edward Davila dismissed the lawsuit but the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals revived it.
The Cambridge Analytica data breach prompted US government investigations into Facebook's privacy practices, various lawsuits and a US congressional hearing. The US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2019 brought an enforcement action against Facebook over the matter, which the company settled for $100 million. Facebook paid a separate $5 billion penalty to the US Federal Trade Commission over the issue.
The Supreme Court in prior rulings has limited the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that polices securities fraud.