Construction, Energy, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Latvia, Legislation, Real Estate

The Commission’s decisions are covering many sectors and aim at ensuring proper application of EU law for the benefit of citizens and businesses.  

The Commission has taken at the end of June totally 186 decisions, including 47 reasoned opinions and 12 referrals to the European Union's Court of Justice, out of which 4 included financial penalties.

In the monthly package’s section on “other reasoned opinions” there are the cases concerning energy efficiency in buildings. The Commission asks seven member states to adopt national measures on energy efficiency in buildings

The Commission has formally requested (Reference: MEMO/13/583, 20/06/2013) Belgium, Finland, France, Latvia, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland to take action and ensure full compliance with their obligations under EU legislation on energy efficiency in buildings (see Directive 2010/31/EU).

Directive’s requirements

The Commission sent a reasoned opinion to these EU states asking them to notify the Commission of all their implementation measures for the directive, which had to be transposed into national law by 9 July 2012. Under this law, the EU member states must establish and apply minimum energy performance requirements for new and existing buildings, ensure the certification of buildings' energy performance and require the regular inspection of heating and air conditioning systems.

In addition, the directive requires member states to ensure that from 2021 onwards all new buildings will be so-called nearly zero-energy buildings. By properly transposing and implementing the directive, EU member states can achieve a significant amount of cost-effective energy savings and lower greenhouse gas emissions. If the member states do not comply with their legal obligation within two months, the Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice.

In September 2012, the Commission started infringement procedures against 24 member states that had not notified to the Commission the national measures transposing the directive into national law.

In the meantime, a number of member states notified the Commission of their national transposition, although several did not, and reasoned opinions were therefore sent to Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Bulgaria in January 2013 and to Spain and Slovenia in April 2013.

The Commission has also decided to refer Portugal to the European Court of Justice for not adopting legislation to transpose the energy efficiency of buildings directive into national law (see IP/13/579).

The summary of the main decisions and information on infringements procedure, see MEMO/12/12.

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/buildings/buildings_en.htm;

General reference: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-583_en.htm