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European Commission adopted a package of infringement decisions due to the absence of communication by the EU states’ measures to transpose EU directives into national law. Almost all EU member states have not yet notified full transposition measures concerning two EU directives: a) in the field of climate mitigation (through the emission-trading system, ETS), and b) in defence measures.
Background
The Commission is sending a letter of formal notice to those EU states who have failed to notify national measures transposing directives, whose transposition deadline expired recently. For example, there are presently almost all EU member states which have not yet notified full transposition measures for two EU directives in the field of climate mitigations, as well as a couple of states in defence measures.
These member states are having now two months to reply to the letters of formal notice and complete their transposition; otherwise, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion and/or send the case to the EU Court.
EU emission trading system, ETS
The Commission calls on the EU member states to transpose agreed rules to strengthen and expand EU emissions trading: thus, it decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to 26 EU member states for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised EU Emissions Trading System Directive (EU ETS) related to new emissions trading system (ETS2).
The revised EU ETS (Directive 2023/959 amending Directive 2003/87/EC) entered into force in June 2023. As part of the revision of the ETS Directive, a new emissions trading system was created, separate from the existing EU ETS, to gradually extend carbon pricing to new sectors of the economy to support their emissions reductions.
The revised Directive also provides for the allocation of emissions trading revenues to the new Social Climate Fund, which will start operating in 2026, to provide dedicated funding to Member States to support the most affected vulnerable groups, especially households in energy or transport poverty. This new system, which will start in 2027, will cover and address the CO2 emissions from fuel combustion in buildings, road transport and industry not covered by the existing EU ETS, mainly in small industries.
While all member states are working on transposition measures, still the Commission noted that several states – Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden have not communicated full transposition into national law of the provisions of Directive (EU) 2023/959 related to ETS2, by the deadline of 30 June 2024.
The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to the concerned Member States, which now have two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
Reference to the EU Directive on greenhouse gas emission trading system:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/959/oj
Updated list of defence-related products
The Commission calls on Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Finland to notify measures towards completely transposing the directive on the list of defence-related products.
The European Commission decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Finland for failing to transpose into their national legislation the Directive 2024/242, which amended the previous Directive 2009/43/ regarding the updating of the list of defence-related products.
The Transfers Directive (Directive 2009/43/EC) relates to the terms and conditions for the transfer of defence-related products in the European Union and aims at simplifying the terms and conditions for transfers of defence-related products between European countries and ensure the proper functioning of the internal market.
The Annex of the Transfers Directive defines the scope of products for which the Directive applies and mirrors the Common Military List of the European Union. As soon as the Council regularly updates the Common Military List and the most recent update being on 20 February 2023, the Commission followed by amending the Directive through Directive (EU) 2024/242. The EU member states have had until 31 May 2024 to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/242. However, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Finland have not notified national measures for transposing Directive (EU) 2024/242 by the set deadline.
The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to the concerned member states, which now have two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
General reference to Commission press release at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/INF_24_3869