Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Law and Regulations, Legislation, Transport

Different steps in the infringements procedure

The Lisbon Treaty gives the Commission, acting as “the guardian of the Treaties”, the power to take legal action against those member states that are not respecting obligations under the EU law (art. 258 TFEU).

The infringement procedure begins with a request for information (called "Letter of formal notice") to the member state concerned, which must be answered within a specified period, usually two months.

If the Commission is not satisfied with the information and concludes that the member state in question is failing to fulfil its obligations under EU law, the Commission may then send a formal request to comply with EU law (called "Reasoned Opinion"), calling on the Member State to inform the Commission of the measures taken to comply within a specified period, usually two months.

If a member state fails to ensure compliance with the EU law, the Commission may then decide to refer the member state to the Court of Justice. However, in around 95% of infringement cases, member states comply with their obligations under EU law before they are referred to the Court. If the Court rules against a member state, the Member State must then take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment.

In some specific case of Member States that have failed to implement Directives within the deadline agreed by the EU's Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, the Commission may request the Court to impose a financial penalty on the Member State concerned the first time the Court rules on such a case. This possibility, introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, is laid down in Article 260 (3) of the TFEU.

Compliance with the CoJ’s ruling

If, despite the first ruling, a Member State still fails to act, the Commission may open another infringement case (under art. 260 TFEU), with only one written warning before referring the Member State back to the Court.

If the Commission does refer a member state back to the Court, it can propose that the Court imposes financial penalties on the state concerned based on the duration and severity on the infringement and the size of the member state.

There are two elements in a penalty:

·        A lump sum depending on the time elapsed since the original Court ruling, and

·        a daily penalty payment for each day after a second Court ruling until the infringement ends.

The decision on penalties is made by the Commission and the Court. The financial part of penalties is proposed by the Commission and the Court may modify these amounts in its ruling.

The Commission in the capacity of “the guardian of the treaties”, as well as through its obligation to ensure the protection of the public interest has had the competence to do so.

The procedure is governed by the Treaty with all the steps and time limits; which may involve taking a member state to the European Court of Justice.

The decision to open infringement proceedings against a member state is taken by the Co0mmission’s College. This decision is based on accurate and unbiased legal analysis conducted by the Commission legal service on the documents and information submitted by the parties and on any complaints.

The decisions of the Commission on infringements are collected once a month in an overall process involving different policies; these decisions are made public.

-For current statistics on infringements in general, see:

http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/infringements/infringements_en.htm

Examples for the Baltic States

Estonia: national legislation in Estonia concerning internal energy market -and 7 other member states- is still not in line with the EU rules.

Background. In February 2011, the EU leaders declared the need to complete the internal energy market by 2014. To achieve this, timely and complete transposition of EU legislation on the single market of gas and electricity into national law is crucial. The third energy package (see below) includes key provisions for a proper functioning of the energy markets, including new rules on unbundling of networks, rules strengthening the independence and the powers of national regulators and rules on the improvement of the functioning of retail markets to the benefit of consumers.  

Note: The concerned Directives of the Third Energy Package are:

·        Directive on common rules for the internal market in gas (2009/73/EC), and

·        Directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity (2009/72/EC)

On 27 February 2012, the Commission sent several Reasoned Opinions to 8 member states to urge them to comply with their legal obligation. The member states have two months to respond; if they fail to comply the Commission may refer them to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The Commission underlined that opening energy markets for competition is key to competitiveness of the EU economy as a whole. An efficient, interconnected and transparent European internal energy market will also offer consumers a choice between different companies supplying gas and electricity and will make the market accessible to all suppliers.

The Electricity and Gas Directives of the Third Energy Package had to be transposed by the Member States by 3 March 2011. As to date Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia have not informed the Commission of any transposition measures for the two Directives and Estonia has not done so as regards the Gas Directive.  

At the same time, the Commission is analysing the measures notified by the member states which have only partially transposed the Directives, and will decide in the coming months on appropriate further steps.

For more information:

- The Electricity Directive (2009/72/EC), and the Gas Directive (2009/73/EC);

- Commission web page on the Internal Energy Market:

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/gas_electricity/index_en.htm.

- Current figures on infringements in general can be seen at:

http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/infringements/infringements_en.htm.

- For more information on EU infringement procedures, see MEMO/12/134.

Lithuania: implementing national legislation concerning compensation to crime victims according to the EU law.

Background

Compensation to crime victims is dealt with in Directive 2004/80/EC, which establishes important rights for state compensation for victims of violent intentional crimes on the EU territory. The Directive has improved the situation in those member states which have implemented its provisions since 1 January 2006. The Commission decided to sue Greece at the ECJ for failing to implement this measure. On 31 March 2011 the ECJ levied a €3 million penalty on Greece (case C-407/09) for failing to comply with a previous Court ruling to implement the EU law.

The European Commission notified (Brussels, 27 February 2012) that Greece has adopted into national legislation a European Union Directive on compensating crime victims. Greece has complied with a ruling by the European Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) of 31 March 2011 and paid the Commission a €3 million penalty for ignoring a previous ECJ ruling for not implementing the EU rules. As a result, the Commission is now closing the infringement case against Greece.

In addition, the Commission welcomes that the Czech Republic, Greece and Lithuania have implemented EU rules laying down criminal penalties against sea pollution and other environmental offences. As a result, the Commission closed the infringement cases against these countries.

In 2011, the Commission proposed a package of measures that builds on existing EU legislation and strengthens the rights of victims. The Commission is working on other initiatives to foster victims' rights and in particular to further improve the compensation of those victims.

The EU law envisages criminal sanctions for environmental offences: Directive 2008/99/EC on protecting the environment through criminal law aims at ensuring that criminal law measures are available in all member states to react to serious breaches of EU rules on environmental protection. The Directive includes a list of breaches that have to be considered a criminal offence in all member states, such as the illegal shipment of waste or the trade in endangered species.

The Directive on criminal law measures to protect the environment should have been introduced into national law by 26 December 2010. The latest moves by the Czech Republic and Lithuania mean that all EU member states have now complied with separate rules on pollution from ships.

Criminal sanctions for pollution from ships

Directive 2009/123/EC (amending Directive 2005/35/EC) on ship-source pollution is part of a set of EU rules that reinforce maritime safety and help prevent pollution from ships. It requires member states to consider serious and illicit discharges of polluting substances from ships as a criminal offence. Both directives require EU members to ensure that the criminal offences are punishable with "effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties." Failure by member states to implement the Directives makes it impossible to have common minimum criminal law rules for serious breaches of EU legislation on the protection of the environment and against ship-source pollution. Such EU wide rules are essential to prevent loopholes which could otherwise be exploited by perpetrators of environmental crimes.

For more information:

- Justice Directorate General Newsroom:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/news/intro/news_intro_en.htm

- Homepage of Vice-President Viviane Reding, EU Justice Commissioner:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding/index_en.htm