Europa-March infringements package: key decisions.
ENPNewswire-March 8, 2019--Europa-March infringements package: key decisions
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Release date- 07032019 - In its monthly package of infringement decisions, the European Commission ('Commission') is pursuing legal action against Member States for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law.
These decisions, covering various sectors and EU policy areas, aim to ensure the proper application of EU law for the benefit of citizens and businesses.
The key decisions taken by the Commission are presented below and grouped by policy area. The Commission is also closing 103 cases in which the issues with the Member States concerned have been solved without the Commission needing to pursue the procedure further.
For more information on the EU infringement procedure, see the full MEMO/12/12. For more detail on all decisions taken, consult the infringement decisions' register.
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Digital Single Market
(For more information: Nathalie Vandystadt - tel.: +32 229 67083, Marietta Grammenou - tel.: +32 229 83583)
Reasoned opinions and closures
Commission urges BELGIUM and LUXEMBOURG to ensure the transposition of the Cybersecurity rules into national law
The Commission decided today to send a reasoned opinion to Belgium and Luxembourg regarding their failure to transpose the first EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity rules (the Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems, Directive (EU)2016/1148/EU) into their national legislation by 9 May 2018. The objective of the Directive is to achieve ahigher level of security of network and information systems across the EU through the development of national cybersecurity capabilities. It also aims at increasing EU-level cooperation as well as introducing security and incident reporting obligations for operators of essential services and digital service providers. In July 2018, the Commission opened an EU infringement procedure by calling on the Member States concerned to complete the transposition process. The infringement proceedings against Greece and Poland have just been closed as they have informed the Commission of the transposition of the EU rules. The Commission will continue to look at the open infringements for lack of full transposition of the Directive and expects to have a more in-depth overview of the transposition across the EU in the coming months. Belgium and Luxembourg have two months to take the necessary measures to comply; otherwise, the Commission may decide to bring them before the Court of Justice of the EU on this matter. For more information on how Member States are building up their cybersecurity capacities see the state-of-play of the transposition of the Directive and Questions and Answers. See also a Factsheet on all the EU actions aiming to increase cybersecurity.
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Energy
(For more information: Anna-Kaisa Itkonen - tel.: +32 229 56186, Lynn Rietdorf- tel.: +32 229 74959)
A referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union
Commission refers SPAIN to Court for heat and hot water metering in multi-apartment buildings
Today, the European Commission decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU for not ensuring that the requirements on individual metering in multi-apartment and multi-purpose buildings laid down in the Energy Efficiency Directive (Directive 2012/27/EU) are complied with. The Directive requires the installation of individual meters for heating, cooling and domestic hot water for all multi-apartment and multi-purpose buildings where occupants are supplied with these services from a collective installation (such as a common boiler). This applies - where technically feasible and cost efficient - for all existing buildings. However, the Spanish national transposition measures impose this requirement only with regard to new buildings (built after 2007). In buildings where heat meters are not a technically feasible or cost-effective solution for space heating, so-called heat cost allocators mounted on each radiator must instead be used. This requirement has also not been correctly transposed by Spain. The respective EU rules had to be implemented into national law by 5 June 2014. For more information, please refer to the full press release.
Reasoned opinions:
Radiation protection: Commission calls on IRELAND to transpose the EU radiation protection rules
Today, the Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion to Ireland for not having notified transposition measures required under the revised Basic Safety Standards Directive (Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom). The Directive provides for the protection of workers, members of the public and patients against the dangers arising from ionising radiation while modernising and consolidating the European radiation protection legislation. The Directive had to be transposed into national legislation by 6 February 2018. By that time, the Irish authorities had not notified the Commission of any transposition measures and, therefore, received a letter of formal notice in May 2018. In July 2018 the Irish authorities responded to the letter of formal notice and informed that the transposition of the Directive into national law will soon be completed, without however providing the Commission with any transposition measures or with a concrete timeline for the adoption of such measures. To date, Ireland has not notified any final transposition measures. Ireland has now two months to reply to the reasoned opinion and to adopt and communicate all the necessary measures to ensure full and correct transposition of the Directive, failing which the Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Nuclear safety: Commission calls on POLAND to completely transpose EU nuclear safety rules
Today, the Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion to Poland for not having notified complete transposition measures required under the amendment to the Nuclear Safety Directive (Council Directive 2014/87/Euratom. The Directive further enhances the nuclear safety legal framework at EU level. The amendment to the Nuclear Safety Directive had to be transposed by Member States into national legislation by 15 August 2017. By that time, the Polish authorities had not notified the Commission of all their transposition measures and, therefore, received a letter of formal notice in June 2018. In August 2018, the Polish authorities replied to the letter of formal notice. In their reply, inter alia, the authorities informed that the identified gaps in transposing certain specific requirements laid down in the Directive will be addressed in the framework of an upcoming legislative amendment. However, to date, Poland has not notified any final transposition measures corresponding to these specific requirements of the Directive. Poland has now two months to reply to the reasoned opinion and to adopt and communicate all the necessary measures to ensure full and correct transposition of the Directive, failing which the Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Letters of formal notice:
Commission reminds LUXEMBOURG and PORTUGAL of their obligations as regards energy-efficient buildings
The Commission has decided to send letters of formal notice to Luxembourg and Portugal to remind them of their reporting obligations regarding the communication to the European Commission of their second cost-optimal report. According to EU rules on the energy performance of buildings (Directive 2010/31/EU), Member States have to set minimum energy performance requirements for buildings, with a view to achieving the best combination between investments and savings, also known as 'cost-optimal levels'. Calculating the cost-optimal levels is key for Member States to fully exploit the energy efficiency and renewable energy potential of the national buildings stock and to avoid citizens spending more money than necessary on efficiency improvements to their housing and offices. The Member States concerned have now two months to reply; otherwise, the Commission may send a reasoned opinion.
Internal energy market: Commission calls on ROMANIA to correctly transpose EU rules
Today, the Commission decided to send a letter of formal notice to Romania for failing to correctly implement certain requirements of the Gas Directive (Directive 2009/73/EC) and the Security of Gas Supply Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1938). These instruments aim at ensuring the competitiveness in the EU gas markets while guaranteeing the secure supply to households and other customers requiring special protection. After analysing legislative measures adopted by Romania in December 2018, the Commission found that the system of regulated wholesale prices newly introduced in the Romanian gas market goes against the EU legal requirements. The Commission also considers that these measures are not adequate to sustainably achieve the objective of protecting household customers from excessive price increases.
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Environment
(For more information: Enrico Brivio - tel.: +32 229 56172, Daniela Stoycheva - tel.: +32 229 53664)
Referrals to the Court of Justice of the European Union
Commission takes CYPRUS to the Court of Justice for failure to properly treat urban waste water
The European Commission is today referring Cyprus to the Court of Justice of the EU over its failure to ensure that all agglomerations with a population of more than 2 000 inhabitants have adequate collection and treatment systems for urban waste water as required under EU rules (Council Directive 91/271/EEC). Cyprus has failed to provide a collecting system for a number of agglomerations and has also failed to ensure that the urban waste water entering collecting systems is subject to appropriate treatment. Although some progress has been made, Cyprus still fails to ensure that, in 31 agglomerations, all waste water is collected or that urban waste water entering collecting systems is subject to...
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