Eleven Member States Slammed For Failure To Implement EU Laws

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

19 December 2003

The European Commission has threatened legal action against 11 member states over their failure to implement various pieces of EU legislation into their national laws, with only Germany, Austria and Italy escaping the EC's wrath.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Commission revealed that France and Ireland are facing the possibility of daily fines over their failure to integrate a 1998 directive on the recognition of lawyers' qualifications into their national legal systems.

It additionally announced that Greece and Finland are facing action over their failure to fall into line with a directive on financial services, whilst nine member states are likely to be charged over their failure to implement EU rules on copyright which were agreed in 2001.

Internal Market Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein observed on Wednesday that:

"As long as even one Member State has not implemented a Directive, citizens and businesses across Europe are denied the full benefit of the measures their governments have agreed to break down national red tape and unlock the full wealth creation potential of the Internal Market."

"So Member States need to shoulder their responsibilities and respect the implementation deadlines that they themselves have set, in their own interests and that of the credibility of the Union as a whole."

He concluded:

"The Commission does everything it can to help with that but will continue to act decisively where necessary, including by further referrals to the Court."

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