Member States and the application of #EU Law. What’s the infringement procedure? How does the infringement procedure work? The European Commission Report (2012). The virtuous and the defaulters Members States. Italy: open procedures in 2012. May 2014

1. The application of EU Law
Italy and the infringement
procedure
May 2014

2. The European Commission is tasked with monitoring Member
States’ efforts to ensure that their legislation complies with EU law.
The Commission is responsible for ensuring that Member States
fulfil their obligations under EU Law. The most important
obligations are:
! transposition of EU Directives;
! compliance with EU Regulations;
! compliance with norms in Treaties;
! implementation and compliance with the judgements of the
Court and the European Court of Justice.
When a Member State does not apply EU Law, the Commission
can launch an
infringement procedure vis-à-vis
the State which fails to comply.
.
Member States
and the application of EU Law

3. The
infringement procedure:
! is a formal procedure launched by the European Commission
under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) “if the Commission considers that a
Member State has failed to fulfil an obligation under the
Treaties…”;
! is an administrative, pre-litigation procedure to enable the
Member State to conform voluntarily with EU law.
An infringement procedure may also be initiated due to violation of
other provisions of EU Law, for example restrictions to free
competition (arts. 101, 102 and 106 TFEU).
If the State in question does not conform to the Commission’s
requests, the latter can launch the litigation phase and refer the
case to the European Court of Justice.
What’s the infringement procedure?

4. Non-compliance of a Member State consists of an action or
omission which infringes EU Law. A Member State can be non-
compliant if it does or does not do something.
A State is considered to have failed to comply irrespective of the
authority – central, regional or local – to which non-compliance is
attributable.
Nota Bene
violations which can trigger an infringement procedure
do not include violations of obligations under the Stability and
Growth Pact
(for which the excessive deficit procedure is
envisaged), or violations of the European Convention on Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
How does the infringement procedure work

5. Every year the European Commission publishes a report on the
application of EU Law by Member States based on its own continuous
monitoring process.
The Commission has recently published the “30th Annual Report
on monitoring the application of EU Law” (2012) in which it
reviews the performance of Member States regarding the application
of EU Law.
Do Member States really respect EU Law?

6. 1,343 infringement procedures were open at the end of
2012 compared to 1,775 cases in 2011. Since 2009, there has
been an annual decrease in the number of open infringement
procedures.
The policy areas with the most infringements in 2012 were:
The European Commission Report (2012)
20%
15%
14%
38%
13%
Environment
Transports
Taxation
Other policies
Internal Market
%
out of the open
infringement
procedures

7. The virtuous and the defaulters
Belgio 91
Lituania 22
Estonia 22
Italy was the Member State with the most infringements in
2012.

8. “Sorry for the delay”:
transposition of EU Directives
Italia 99
Spagna 92
Belgio 91
Lettonia 20
Lituania 22
Estonia 22
Unlike EU Regulations which are directly applicable, European
Union Directives have to be transposed to enter into force.
! If a Member State does not transpose a EU Directive in time,
the Commission can launch an infringement procedure.
! In 2012, 56 directives had to be transposed. Late
transposition gave rise to 447 infringement procedures, or
33.2% of the total. In 2011, the percentage was 66.7%.
! The Member States with the highest number of open procedures
for late transposition at the end of 2012 were Belgium and
Poland (34 procedures). The one with the lowest number of
open procedures was the Netherlands (6 open procedures).
Since transposition of Directives is very important to establish
uniform EU Law within the European Union, reducing late
transposition is a priority for the European Commission.

9. Italy is the Member State with the largest number of open
infringement procedures at the end of 2012:
! in 2012 alone, the European Commission launched 58
infringement procedures against Italy, of which 36 for late
transposition of EU Directives (19 were closed before year’s
end);
! a total of 99 procedures were still open at the end of 2012. No
other EU Member State had more than Italy;
! 17 of the 99 procedures were due to late transposition of
several Directives (17.1% of the total).
No other EU Member State
had more than Italy
Nessuno Stato Membro
ha fatto peggio.
Italy: by no means an enviable record

10. 25% of the infringements by Italy involve the Environment.
Italy: open procedures in 2012
25%
12%
9%
44%
9%
Environment
Internal Market
Taxation
Other policies
Transports
% the total
number of
infringement
procedures open

11. The most important procedures
launched against Italy
20%

12. In 2012 Italy was referred to the EU Court of Justice (litigation
phase) in 3 cases (4 in 2011):
! non-compliance with Directive 2002/91/EC regarding the
energy efficiency of buildings. Italian regulations do not conform
to the provisions regarding energy performance certificates.
Furthermore, Italian Authorities have not communicated the
measures relating to inspections of air-conditioning systems;
! non-adoption of measures to update national rules in order to
implement EU legislation regarding collective redundancies.
Directive 98/59/EC, not respected by Italy, obliges employers
contemplating collective redundancies to consult with workers’
representatives with a view to reaching an agreement;
! “significant and persistent shortcomings” in the application of EU
legislation regarding the treatment of urban waste waters.
Since 1998, Directive 91/271/EEC obliges States to create
suitable collection and treatment systems for waste water
from agglomerations with more than 10,000 inhabitants.
Referrals of Italy to the EU Court of Justice

13. In 2012 – at the end of procedures launched during previous
years – the Court of Justice passed the following judgements
convicting Italy:
! case n. C-565/10: inadequate
urban waste water
treatment in violation of Directive 91/271/EEC. Italy has
not adopted the provisions required to equip a large number
of urban agglomerations with sewage networks for the
collection and treatment of urban waste water;
! case C-68/11: excessive PM10 (fine particles) concentrations
in 55 areas and urban agglomerations during 2006 and 2007
in violation of Directive 1999/30/EC.
Convictions by the EU Court of Justice

14. In the Government’s Report on Italy’s Participation in the EU in
2013, it emphasised how at the end of 2012 it had:
achieved the goal it had set itself: to reduce
the infringement procedures to less than 100
for the first time in over 15 years.
In that same document, the Government stated that:
! a further reduction in infringement procedures in 2013 was
a “priority goal”;
! the application of Law n.234/2012 (participation by Italy in
the application and elaboration of EU Law) would have had
“very positive effects” on the reduction of the number of
open infringement procedures regarding late transposition
of Directives.
What is the Italian Government doing?

15. In the Report on Italy’s Participation in the EU in 2014, with
statistics referring to 2013 (EU official statistics for 2013 are
still not out), the Government states that:
! on 31 December 2013, there are 104 open infringement
procedures against Italy, of which 24 for late
transposition of new EU rules into national legislation;
! Italy continues to be the last amongst all the Member
States with regard to compliance to EU Law.
Despite all the above, the Government has provided
reassurance that:
“reduction of infringement procedures against Italy
must be a priority goal”.
2013: the last will be the last… again!