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The Commission is constantly watching the ways the member states implement the EU laws. Numerous EU member states have not yet notified full transposition measures concerning the EU directives in various economy and development sectors. Recent infringement decisions are dealing with sustainability and renewable energy. The mentioned member states are now having two months to reply to the letters of formal notice and complete their transposition; otherwise the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
Corporate sustainability reporting
The Commission calls on 17 EU member states to fully transpose the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. For the initial step, the European Commission decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to these member states: Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Finland for failing to notify their national measures transposing fully the Accounting Directive 2013/34, the Transparency Directive 2004/109 and the Audit Directive 2014/56, as amended by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) 2022/2464*).
The CSRD introduces new rules on sustainability reporting, which require the large companies, SMEs and listed companies (excluding micro-undertakings) to disclose information on the social and environmental risks they face, and on how their activities impact people and the environment. Such disclosures would help investors and other stakeholders to evaluate the corporate sustainability performance. New sustainability reporting rules apply from this financial year, i.e. beginning on 1 January 2024.
In the absence of transposition of these new rules it will not be possible to achieve the necessary level of harmonisation of sustainability reporting in the EU and investors will not be in a position to take into account the sustainability performance of companies when making investment decisions.
The mentioned 17 EU states have not yet communicated full transposition into national law of the provisions of the Directive 2022/2464); the transposition deadline expired on 6 July 2024. The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to the concerned member states, which now have two months to respond and complete their transposition. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
*) Note on sustainability reporting: Large undertakings, as well as SMEs (except micro undertakings) shall include in the management report information necessary to understand the undertaking’s impacts on sustainability matters and information necessary to understand how sustainability matters affect the undertaking’s development and performance. At the end of 2019, the Commission promised to review the provisions concerning non-financial reporting of Directive 2013/34 concerning the “green deal” implementation, which is a vital part of the EU-wide growth strategy. The “deal” aims to transform the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy with zero-net-emissions of greenhouse gases, GHG by 2050. It also aims to protect, conserve and enhance the EU’s natural capital and protect the health and well-being of Union citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. The Green Deal aims to decouple economic growth from resource use, and ensure that all EU states, businesses and citizens participate in a socially just transition to a sustainable economic system whereby no person and no place is left behind. It will contribute to the objective of building an economy that works for the people, strengthening the Union’s social market economy, helping to ensure that it is ready for the future and that it delivers stability, jobs, growth and sustainable investment. Besides, digital taxonomy for the EU-wide sustainability reporting standards will be necessary. These requirements should feed into the work on digitalisation. The Commission announced in 2020 the “European strategy for data” and the “Digital Finance Strategy for the EU”, and also complement the creation of a European single access point for public corporate information as envisaged in the Commission’s Communication of 24 September 2020 “Capital Markets Union for people and businesses-new action plan” , in which the need to provide comparable information in a digital format was considered.
Reference and citation from the Directive 2022/2464:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022L2464
Renewable energy: permitting procedures
The Commission calls on almost all EU member states (except Denmark) to transpose already agreed European rules concerning accelerate permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.
The European Commission has opened infringement procedures 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 Renewable Energy Directive, RED*) related to the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures. The revised RED is amending a previous Directive 2018/2001, which is in force from November 2023, as certain provisions had to be transposed into national law by 1 July 2024.
The RED’s provisions include measures to simplify and accelerate permitting procedures both for renewable energy projects and for the necessary infrastructure projects to integrate the additional renewable energy into the electricity system. They also include clear time limits for permit-granting procedures targeted to specific technologies or types of projects, the strengthening of the role of the single contact point for applications and the presumption that renewable energy projects and the related grid infrastructure are of overriding public interest.
Presently, only Denmark has notified full transposition of these provisions by the legal deadline of 1 July 2024.
The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden. They now have two months to respond and complete their transposition. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
*) Note. The Union’s climate neutrality objective requires a just energy transition, an increase in energy efficiency and significantly higher shares of energy from renewable sources in an integrated energy system. “Energy from renewable sources” or “renewable energy” means energy from renewable non-fossil sources, namely wind, solar (solar thermal and solar photovoltaic) and geothermal energy, osmotic energy, ambient energy, tide, wave and other ocean energy, hydro-power, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, and bio-gas.
Reference to RED regarding promotion of energy from renewable sources in:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/2413/oj
See also our article on renewables in: https://www.integrin.dk/2024/09/25/renewables-in-europe-refreshing-priorities/
General reference to the Commission press release: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/inf_24_4661
More on previous infringement decisions in: https://www.integrin.dk/2023/11/27/new-infringement-decisions-package-commissions-monitoring-service/