Measures to ensure complete and timely transposition of EU directives

Belgium is thus singled ou in two process of transposing European directives

> Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

> procedures for renewable energy projects

The Commission is adopting a package of infringement decisions due to the absence of communication by Member States of measures taken to transpose EU directives into national law. The Commission is sending a letter of formal notice to those Member States who have failed to notify national measures transposing directives, whose transposition deadline expired recently. In this case, there are 26 Member States who have not yet notified full transposition measures for five EU directives in the field of justice, financial stability, energy and environment. 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.

Directives concerned

> The Commission calls on 17 Member States to fully transpose the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

The European Commission decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to

17 Member States

(Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Finland)

for failing to notify their national measures transposing fully the Accounting Directive

Directive 2013/34/EU),

the Transparency Directive

Directive 2004/109/EC

and the Audit Directive

Directive 2014/56/EU

as amended by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

Directive (EU) 2022/2464

The CSRD introduces new rules on sustainability reporting. It requires large companies and listed companies (excluding micro-undertakings) to disclose information on the social and environmental risks they face, and on how their activities impact people and the environment. This helps investors and other stakeholders to evaluate the sustainability performance of companies. The new sustainability reporting rules apply from financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2024. In the absence of transposition of these new rules it will not be possible to achieve the necessary level of harmonisation of sustainability reporting in the EU and investors will not be in a position to take into account the sustainability performance of companies when making investment decisions. The 17 Member States concerned have not yet communicated full transposition into national law of the provisions of the CSRD

Directive (EU) 2022/2464.

The transposition deadline expired on 6 July 2024. The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to the concerned Member States, which now have two months to respond and complete their transposition. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.

>The Commission calls on Member States to transpose agreed rules to accelerate permitting procedures for renewable energy projects

The European Commission decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to

26 Member States

for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised Renewable Energy Directive related to the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures. The revised RED (

Directive 2023/2413

amending

Directive 2018/2001

entered into force in November 2023 and certain provisions had to be transposed into national law by 1 July 2024. These provisions include measures to simplify and accelerate permitting procedures both for renewable energy projects and for the necessary infrastructure projects to integrate the additional renewable energy into the electricity system. They also include clear time limits for permit-granting procedures targeted to specific technologies or types of projects, the strengthening of the role of the single contact point for applications and the presumption that renewable energy projects and the related grid infrastructure are of overriding public interest. To date, only Denmark has notified full transposition of these provisions by the legal deadline of 1 July 2024. The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden. They now have two months to respond and complete their transposition. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.