A new report shows that the number of infringement cases opened by the European Commission for breaches of EU environmental legislation went down significantly in 2005. This is due to a more efficient way of handling complaints and infringement proceedings on the part of the Commission, together with swifter action by Member States to comply with their obligations. The Commission has adopted a more strategic approach, grouping together cases which concern the same issue and focusing on general cases which cut across several policy areas. It has also stepped up its assistance to the Member States, meeting the national authorities more often and providing them with guidance documents. By the end of 2005, the Commission had 489 infringement cases open in the environment field as compared to 570 at the end of 2004. This represents a reduction of 14%.
Commenting on the report, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “Proper implementation of EU environmental laws by Member States is crucial to ensure a clean environment. This is also what citizens want. 90% of Europeans believe that policy-makers should pay as much attention to environmental issues as to economic and social factors. The reduction in the number of open cases against Member states is good news. However, Member States must increase their overall effort to comply fully with our laws.”
In 2005 the number of open infringements cases (i.e. in which a first written warning has been sent) went down by 14% from 570 in 2004 to 489. If also cases where an investigation has been launched but no warning has been sent off are counted in the figures are 798 investigations open, as compared to 1220 at the end of 2004. This represents a reduction of almost 35%.
22.4% of the cases opened by the Commission as a whole concerned environmental policy, compared to 27% in 2004.
The Commission issued 141 final warnings and brought 42 cases against Member States before the Court of Justice for bad implementation of EU environmental legislation. It also issued 21 first warnings and 11 final warnings to Member States for lack of compliance with previous judgements of the European Court of Justice. At the end of 2005, 77 cases were open for not complying with a previous judgement. This relatively high figure remains a matter of concern.
Overview tables of cases by Member State can be found in the annex.
A more rational and strategic approach
The Commission now groups together cases which have to do with the same issue and focuses on horizontal cases which cut across several policy areas (e.g. illegal landfills, waste water treatment plants).
Commission intervention has also proved to be a spur for member States to take remedial action. Such was the case for almost 90% of the 226 infringement cases which the Commission decided to close in 2005. Several Member States accelerated the transposition of EU legislation on waste (e.g. Directive on Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive and Directive on Restricting the use of Hazardous Substances), greenhouse gases emissions trading and access to information. Commission intervention also secured a much higher degree of protection for many thousands of hectares of sensitive peatlands in Ireland and led to the withdrawal of a project to build a high voltage grid through several Natura 2000 sites in Castilla-León and Asturias (Spain), and to the adoption of programmes in Portugal to combat water pollution caused by discharges of hazardous substances.
Although legal enforcement is a very effective tool to ensure that Member States comply with European environmental laws, non-legal instruments and initiatives are also very useful. This is why the Commission has issued interpretation and guidance documents (e.g. on the End-Of-Life Vehicles Directive and on allocation plans for the 2008 to 2012 trading period under the EU Emission Trading Scheme). It has also stepped up its co-operation with Member States, both on a multilateral and bilateral level. The informal EU network for the Implementation of Environmental Law (IMPEL) which was set up in 1992 to facilitate the exchange of good practices, is proving a success.
Background
Article 226 of the Treaty gives the Commission powers to take legal action against a Member State that is not respecting its obligations and article 228 gives it the power to act against a Member State that does not comply with a previous judgement of the European Court of Justice.
The “Seventh Annual Survey on the implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law” describes the implementation of environmental legislation during 2005. It illustrates the developments of infringement cases in each sector of EU environmental law during 2005. . It also includes a scoreboard that shows the number of non-communication, non-conformity and bad application cases per Member State and per sector. It can be downloaded at the following Internet address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/law
Table 1: Open infringement procedures by Member State (situation end 2005)
Non Communication Non Conformity Bad Application Total Difference 2004
IT 8 17 52 77 2
ES 6 6 45 57 -9
IE 8 7 30 45 -6
FR 9 12 21 42 -8
EL 8 5 23 36 -5
PT 8 2 25 35 -3
UK 4 10 17 31 -6
DE 6 5 13 24 -11
BE 6 5 12 23 -8
AT 6 3 6 15 -6
LU 8 3 4 15 3
FI 7 2 4 13 -3
NL 3 4 5 12 -13
MT 7 0 3 10 5
CZ 6 1 1 8 -4
DK 3 2 3 8 0
HU 6 0 2 8 2
CY 4 0 3 7 5
SE 1 2 3 6 -7
PL 2 0 2 4 -1
SK 3 0 1 4 -3
EE 1 0 2 3 -4
SI 3 0 0 3 -2
LV 1 0 1 2 2
LT 0 0 1 1 1
total 124 86 279 489 -79
Non-communication = Member State fails to adopt measures (national laws, regulations and administrative provisions) to transpose Directives and to communicate them to the Commission within the prescribed time limit.
Non-conformity = Member State transposition measures do not conform to the requirements of the Directive.
Bad application = through action or inaction, a Member State fails to comply with EU environmental law requirements other than the requirements to adopt and communicate correct implementing legislation.
Table 2: Article 228 cases open (situation end 2005)
FR 14
IT 12
ES 9
IE 9
EL 7
UK 6
BE 5
PT 4
DE 3
NL 3
AT 2
FI 2
SE 1
TOTAL 77
Article 228 refers to cases where there has already been a ruling by the European Court of Justice
