Brussels, 27/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia having failed to introduce any measure to transpose the directives from the third internal electricity and gas market liberalisation package, the European Commission sent these countries a reasoned opinion on Monday 27 February, calling on them to respect their legal obligations. Estonia also received a reasoned opinion for failing to notify the Commission of the measures taken to transpose the gas directive. Member states had until 3 March 2011 to transpose Directive 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC, which set rules for the internal energy market in electricity and gas respectively. The eight member states which have failed to comply with their obligations now have two months to respond. Failure to do so could see them taken to the European Court of Justice. At the same time, the Commission is examining the measures submitted by member states that have only partially transposed the directives. The Commission will decide in the next few months what action it will take.
The third liberalisation package contains provisions for the effective functioning of the energy markets, including new rules on unbundling networks, the independence and the scope of the national regulators, as well as on the retail markets in relation to consumer interests. (EH/transl.fl)