Brussels, 21/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 21 March, the Commission published the latest internal market scoreboard, based on data from November 2010, which reveals that, overall, member states have done well in incorporating internal rules into their national laws. Improvements have been noted with regard to the number of internal market infringement procedures and the time it takes for them to be resolved, and in cooperation between the Commission and member states to optimise transposition of European rules. Malta, leading a small number of member states, has made the most significant progress.
Transposition deficit. With a 0.9% average of internal market directives for which the implementation deadline has passed not currently written into national law, member states are in line with the 1.0% target set by heads of state and government in 2007. Compared with the previous scoreboard (September 2010, data from May 2010), the number of member states meeting the 1% criterion has risen from 18 to 20. Malta is the best performing (0.1%), while Italy (2.1%) and Poland (1.7%) were the worst performing. Six member states - Malta, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Luxembourg and Latvia - have improved from six months ago, with the Commission praising Greece, Portugal and Luxembourg for making the greatest improvements. However, the countries where the number of directives still awaiting transposition has most increased are Italy (+14) and Hungary (+10).
Time taken for transposition. Progress was made in this area, too, with all member states apart from Poland and Luxembourg meeting the zero tolerance criterion on directives which should have been transposed two years or more previously. Indeed, while one year ago, member states took on average an extra 9 months to transpose EU directives after the transposition deadline expired (7.1 months six months ago), they have managed to reduce the EU average transposition time to 5.8 months, an improvement of almost 40%. Bulgaria leads the field here (1.4 months), and France (10.6 months) and Luxembourg (9.3 months) are the slowest.
Quality of transposition. Under this heading, the number of directives transposed late or incorrectly by each member state was measured. The overall average of 24 shows a slight improvement from six months ago (26), but the differences from one country to another remain considerable. Fourteen countries are above the average, with 52 directives incorrectly transposed by Italy and 50 by Poland the highest number, and 13 are below the average, with Malta being the best transposition performer with only two directives awaiting transposition. All the others were within the 11-23 range.
Infringements. Progress was noted here too. The overall number of infringement proceedings relating to the internal market decreased by 11% compared to six months ago (1,091 cases compared with 1,229 in May 2010), thanks, in part, to the Commission's introduction of a number of alternative problem solving and complaints handling mechanisms (such as SOLVIT, see EUROPE 10320). Twenty-seven per cent of procedures were opened for incorrect transposition of directives and 73% for incorrect application. The most common areas of infringements remain taxation and environment. The average time needed to resolve infringements has continued to fall slightly for the EU15, but has increased for the countries of the EU12. Member states still take considerable time - on average more than 18 months - to comply with rulings of the EU Court of Justice, the Commission says, with the longest delay being in Ireland, on average approximately 25 months to comply with rulings. (F.G./transl.rt)