6 of Commission's latest infringement decisions concern Estonia

TALLINN – In its regular package of infringement decisions published on Thursday, the European Commission made public its latest decisions concerning member states which have failed to notify measures taken to transpose EU directives into national law; six of the infringement decisions concern Estonia.

In this package, there are 26 member states which have not yet notified full transposition measures for 11 EU directives in the fields of justice, internal market and SMEs, taxation and customs, health, climate, home affairs, and financial services. The member states concerned now have two months to reply to the letters of formal notice and complete their transposition, or the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.

The Commission said that Estonia and Poland have not notified any measures transposing the directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law. On on Feb. 15, 2023, the Commission decided to refer Estonia and Poland to the Court of Justice. In addition, both member states have also not communicated national measures regarding medium-sized companies.

The so-called whistleblower protection directive provides for the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law. The directive requires member states to ensure that all legal entities in the private sector, with 50 or more workers, establish internal reporting channels. This obligation needed to be transposed by Dec. 17, 2021. However, for medium-sized companies, meaning legal entities in the private sector with 50 to 249 workers, member states had an additional two years to transpose EU rules.

The second proceeding concerns nine member states -- Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Portugal -- which have not communicated national measures transposing the directive on the introduction of a minimum rate of effective taxation of 15 percent for multinational companies active in EU member states. The deadline for communicating national measures transposing the directive was Dec. 31, 2023.

The third of the proceedings concerning Estonia is about the transposition of agreed rules to strengthen and expand EU emissions trading. These amendments strengthen the existing EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) rules, extend the ETS to maritime transport and implement carbon pricing in new sectors of the economy by establishing a separate new emissions trading system for buildings, road transport and fuels used in small emitting industries. The new rules also establish a Social Climate Fund funded by ETS revenues to ensure that the transition is fair for all. To date 26 member states, including Estonia, have not communicated full transposition of the directive into national law. The deadline for communicating the transposition was Dec. 31, 2023. 

The fourth proceeding concerning Estonia is about the transposition of the new rules to attract highly qualified workers to the EU, which introduces more efficient rules for attracting such workers to the EU. These rules include more flexible admission conditions, enhanced rights and the possibility to move and work more easily between EU member states. Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden have not communicated the national measures transposing the directive to the Commission by the set deadline of Nov. 18, 2023.

The fifth proceeding is about the motor insurance directive, more specifically, the protection of injured parties in case of the insolvency of the insurer. The member states were to adopt the necessary provisions to comply with this directive by Dec. 23, 2023. Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, Latvia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland had not communicated to the Commission the full transposition of the directive by the deadline of Dec. 23, 2023.

The sixth of the proceedings concerns the credit servicers and credit purchasers directive, which aims to ensure contractual transparency and consumer protection. The directive introduces significant forbearance measures to protect consumers such as refinancing of the credit agreement, deferring the payment of the debt instalments, change of the interest rate or partial forgiveness, as well as information requirements to increase transparency in the relationship with the creditor. Member states were required to adopt and publish the measures transposing the directive into national law by Dec. 29, 2023. Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland have not communicated to the Commission the full transposition of these articles by the deadline of Dec. 29, 2023.