Brussels, 22/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is to refer Cyprus to the Court of Justice for continuing infringement of the European directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law (Directive 2008/99/EC). The country faces a heavy fine, the Commission announced on Thursday 22 March. Infringement proceedings for a similar breach continue for Belgium, too.
The Commission says Cyprus has still not incorporated into its national law the above-mentioned directive which ensures that serious breaches of EU environmental law are considered criminal offences and punished, even though the deadline for transposition was 26 December 2010. The Commission will ask the Court to impose a daily penalty payment of €5,909.40 on Cyprus until the adoption of all the necessary national measures for a complete transposition.
Belgium will receive a reasoned opinion (second stage of the infringement procedure) urging it to complete the transposition process for the same directive within two months. If it fails to do so within this time period, the Commission may refer the matter to the Court of Justice.
However, the Commission closed the infringement procedures against Greece and Finland, these two countries having informed it of national measures to fully transpose the said directive. (AN/transl.rt)