[GSDI Legal Socioecon] Fines for EU Member States that do not implement EU-wide legislation

[Roger Longhorn]

In reply to Kate's question:

All of these legal proceedings start out as 'name and shame' plus 'slap 
on the wrist' exercises, to force the recalcitrant Member States to 
either (a) implement a Directive or (b) implement it more completely or 
better. Some states 'implement' Directives but not fully (as far as the 
Commission is concerned) and thus still have legal proceedings started 
against them.

The usual result is that the Member State then implements the Directive 
or corrects any missing legislation at national level, enough to satisfy 
the Commission - and Court. In practice, States are (usually) given 
quite some time to rectify the situation, the EU/EC realising how long 
it can take to put new laws into place in any sovereign state. But they 
will be monitored throughout the process and if no action is taken, 
then, yes, some substantial fines can be levied.

In some cases, very large fines are imposed - such as the several 
hundred million pounds that the British government had to pay a few 
years ago, in fines, for not implementing one of the farm payment 
Directives on time. In 2003, the /EU/ //// fined nine Member States //a 
total of €320 million for breaking annual milk production quotas. These 
are quite a bit more than just a 'slap on the wrist'!

Regards

Roger Longhorn
ral at alum.mit.edu

From: *Kate Lance* <klance_remote at yahoo.com 
<mailto:klance_remote at yahoo.com>>
Date: Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 2:17 AM
Subject: [GSDI Legal Socioecon] Countries facing Court procedures 
failing to transpose INSPIRE Directive
To: SDI-legal-socioecon <legal-socioecon at lists.gsdi.org 
<mailto:legal-socioecon at lists.gsdi.org>>, SDI-Europe 
<sdi-europe at lists.gsdi.org <mailto:sdi-europe at lists.gsdi.org>>


Can anyone on this list shed some light on what's likely to come from 
these Court procedures? Will there be fines? Were these notices just 
'shaming' or a slaps on the wrist?

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/1566&format=HTML 
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/1566&format=HTML>
Estonia and Poland face Court for failing to put EU law on their statute 
books
(Brussels, 24 November 2010, IP/10/1566)
The European Commission is referring Estonia and Poland to the European 
Court of Justice for failing to bring EU environmental legislation into 
force. These Member States have not yet adopted legislation on spatial 
data infrastructure at national level, despite reasoned opinions issued 
to all three countries under ongoing infringement proceedings.
The deadline for implementing legislation was 15 May 2009; which means 
that the EU member states had to bring into force the laws, regulations 
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive on 
spatial infrastructure before 15 May 2009.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/1241&type=HTML 
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/1241&type=HTML>
Austria and Sweden face Court for failing to implement EU laws on 
spatial data
(Brussels, 30 September 2010, IP/10/1241)
The European Commission is referring Estonia and Poland to the European 
Court of Justice for failing to bring EU environmental legislation into 
force. These Member States have not yet adopted legislation on spatial 
data infrastructure at national level, despite reasoned opinions issued 
to all three countries under ongoing infringement proceedings.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/830&type=HTML 
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/830&type=HTML>
Germany faces Court for failing to implement EU laws on spatial data
(Brussels, 24 June 2010, IP/10/830)
The Commission is referring Germany to the EU's Court of Justice for 
incomplete implementation of Directive 2007/2/EC, establishing an 
infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE).