Published 16 November 2024 at 14.40
Domestic. In 2018, the industrial and testing giant TÜV Rheinland was ordered to pay damages to women who had breast surgery with so-called PIP implants, because the company approved the substandard and subsequently leaking implants. Now the company will take over the responsibility for Bilprovningen, the government wants.
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The government has decided to sell the state Bilprovningen to the German company TÜV Rheinland. The decision has faced harsh criticism due to the company's involvement in the so-called PIP scandal.
TÜV Rheinland, which specializes in certification and quality control, approved the controversial PIP implants that caused great harm to thousands of women worldwide.
The implants, which contained cheaper industrial silicone instead of medically approved silicone, cracked over time and led to lawsuits in several countries.
As recently as last year, a French court decided that the company should compensate affected patients with an average equivalent of 200,000 per person, which led to a number of Swedish women receiving compensation.
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V leader Nooshi Dadgostar sharply criticizes the deal:
– I know the government wants to privatize most things, but selling out the Swedish car inspection to a German company infamous for a breast implant scandal actually takes a toll . The government must think again, she tells Aftonbladet and adds:
– It is a typical activity that should be under state auspices in Sweden.
Even the Social Democrats' economic policy spokesperson Mikael Damberg warns for the consequences:
– This will affect ordinary people in the form of higher costs. The risk is also that there will be more cheating in the system, he says to the same newspaper.
The government defends the decision and emphasizes that TÜV Rheinland has met all requirements for ethical conduct. State Secretary Lars Hjälmered believes that the purchase has been thoroughly reviewed and meets the requirements that the state places on buyers of state-owned companies.
The car inspection has existed since 1963 and today operates over 100 stations around Sweden.
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