The European Union demands four member states - including Germany - impose fines on VW.

Volkswagen may be facing significantly new penalties for cheating on diesel emissions – at least if European Union regulators have their way.

The EU has launched legal proceedings against four member states – Britain, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain – demanding that they impose fines against VW for using illegal “defeat device” software to rig diesel emissions tests. The European Commission also claims those four countries “broke the law” by refusing to provide EU regulators “all the technical information” they have gathered on VW’s scam.

If the Brussels-based EU is successful, it could lead to hefty new penalties against the German automaker which has already shelled out billions of dollars in fines and settlements linked to the diesel scandal. That includes a $14.7 billion deal it reached last spring with U.S. and California regulators, most of that going to buy back vehicles equipped with a flawed 2.0-liter turbodiesel.

(The U.S. is critical to maker’s turnaround. For more on VW’s revival plan, Click Here.)

Following the September 2015 disclosure by the American EPA that VW had rigged its 2.0-liter and 3.0-liter diesels, the EU reached out to its own member states, among other things, asking them to run tests concerning “potential nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions irregularities in cars by Volkswagen Group AG and other car manufacturers on their territories.”

But regulators say those four states Germany “broke the law by refusing to disclose, when requested by the Commission, all the technical information” they have so far gathered. There is an ongoing debate over whether European law authorizes the software VW developed because it helps protect a vehicle’s motor. Authorities claim they need the additional data to verify that claim.

EU regulators also want four states to provide data on VW's rigged diesel engines.

The Commission, which oversees EU laws, also has been pressing member states to fine VW for cheating on diesel tests. Germany, in particular, has so far refused to levy penalties – though prosecutors are continuing to investigate whether VW and senior executives violated security laws by failing to reveal the scam to investors. After the EPA announcement 15 months ago, VW’s stock tanked, wiping out billions of dollars in shareholder value.

The EU has given the four states until February to respond to the allegations. Separately, the Commission says it will press several other states, including the Czech Republic, Greece and Lithuania, for not taking steps to penalize manufacturers who violate emissions laws.

(Click Here to check out the new Volkswagen Atlas SUV.)

So far, Volkswagen has spent more than $20 billion to settle various legal actions stemming from the emissions scandal. That includes the June settlement with the EPA, the Justice Department and other federal and state authorities. The primary piece of that deal is a $10 billion buyback of the 475,000 vehicles sold in the U.S. using the 2.0-liter engine.

VW has also reached a settlement with dealers who claimed they have both lost business and seen the value of their franchises diminished because of the scandal.

A separate deal is being negotiated for the maker’s rigging of the higher-end 3.0-liter engine used in a number of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brand products. And the automaker is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation launched by the U.S. Justice Department. A U.S.-based engineer who helped create the defeat device software pleaded guilty earlier this year.

(VW teases new global fastback model. Click Here to check it out.)