Brussels, 03/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has closed infringement procedures against:
(1) Germany for incorrectly implementing two parts of EU anti-discrimination legislation. The first regulation refers to discrimination in employment on grounds of religion, belief, disability, age and sexual orientation (Directive 2000/78/EC) and the second to discrimination on the grounds of race in employment and almost all other areas of everyday life (2000/43/EC).
The Commission opened infringement proceedings against Germany in 2007. In October 2009, the Commission sent formal requests to Germany to comply fully with the Race Equality Directive and the Employment Equality Directive. In response to the Commission's reasoned opinions, Germany presented draft laws to comply with national jurisprudence and notified further national laws applying in this area. The Commission has concluded that, in the light of these changes, Germany has now properly implemented both directives.
(2) the United Kingdom for non-transposition of EU rules prohibiting gender discrimination in access to and supply of goods and services (Directive 2004/113/EC).
The Commission had referred the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice following its failure to implement the directive as with regard to Gibraltar. On 4 February 2010, the Court issued a judgment (Case C-186/09) declaring that the United Kingdom had failed to meet its obligations under the said directive by not adopting all the necessary legislation.
Following the judgment, the United Kingdom informed the Commission that it had adopted legislation implementing the directive in Gibraltar. Since the implementation of the directive is now complete, the Commission has closed this case. (G.B./transl.rt)