The McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 team has been summoned by FIA to a special meeting to answer charges that it inappropriately obtained confidential information belonging to the Scuderia Ferrari Team.
A statement Thursday from motor racing's governing body said an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council will take place in Paris on July 26.
In its statement, FIA said "team representatives have been called to answer a charge that between March and July 2007, in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes had unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, including information that could be used to design, engineer, build, check, test, develop and/or run a 2007 Ferrari Formula One car".
The development came a day after a suspended McLaren engineer agreed to file a signed affidavit with a London court giving a detailed account of his role in the alleged case of industrial espionage.
McLaren's chief designer Mike Coughlan agreed to submit the sworn statement after copies of some 780 pages of sensitive Ferrari technical data was discovered in his country home.
The agreement was part of a compromise in which Ferrari said it would not ask that a copy of the affidavit be filed with prosecutors in Italy, as long as one was sent to FIA.
Ferrari asked that Coughlan explain in full how and when he came into possession of the detailed technical information on Ferrari's 2007 Formula 1 car.
It also wants to know when McLaren Managing Director Jonathan Neale, number three at the British team, was informed about Coughlan having the documents.
McLaren has from the start assured Ferrari that none of its intellectual property was used on McLaren race cars.
Ferrari reportedly suspects that Coughlan was in cahoots with one its own former employees, engineer Nigel Stepney, who was fired for allegedly trying to sabotage the team's cars at this year's Monaco Grand Prix.
Although Stepney denied all wrongdoing and accused Ferrari of waging a "dirty tricks" campaign against him, he is under investigation in Italy for both industrial espionage and sabotage.
A lawyer for Ferrari this week said the team discovered that Coughlan had the data after being tipped off that his wife had the 780 pages photocopied in a local shop.
