Brussels, 25/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 24 October, the European Commission decided to move to the next stage of the infringement proceedings against a number of member states.
Employment and social security. The Commission has decided to send Italy to the European Court of Justice for failing to properly apply EU rules on collective redundancies. EU Directive 98/59/EC says that employers considering collective redundancies must consult with worker representatives about ways of reducing or avoiding the redundancies or at least alleviating the impact. Under Italian rules, however, managers are not included and the Commission says this is unjustified discrimination which could easily affect other categories of worker and which could make it more difficult to reach the quorum of redundancies needed for the legislation to apply.
Estonia is to be sent a reasoned opinion asking it to give university staff and people working in the culture industry who have signed unlimited duration contracts the protection laid down under EU Directive 1999/70/EC against the granting of one short-term contract after another. The Commission says the directive must apply across all areas of the economy. A reasoned opinion is also being sent to Denmark which has not introduced measures from the directive guaranteeing temporary workers equal treatment with permanent workers, rules that came into force in December 2011. Slovakia is being sent a reasoned opinion for failing to pay certain welfare payments to seriously disabled people under the country's social security system because they live in a different member state.
Public health. The Commission asks Denmark to ban the sale of snus (oral tobacco sold both loose and in small sachet portions that is placed between the gums and the lip, without being chewed or smoked). The sale of snus has been banned everywhere in the EU since 1992, except in Sweden which had obtained an exemption during Accession Treaty negotiations. Denmark banned the sale of snus in small sachet portions but not in loose form. The European Commission has sent Denmark a reasoned opinion asking it to amend its rules to ban snus in any form. EU Health Commissioner John Dalli was forced to resign recently over accusations of corruption just as he was preparing new rules to tighten up anti-tobacco legislation in Europe.
Access to justice. Poland is being sent a reasoned opinion asking it to comply with EU Regulation 1393/2007 on the notification in the member states of legal and extra-judicial documents relating to civil or criminal law, which simplifies the provision of documentation services for cross-border cases. The Commission says Warsaw requires non-residents to designate a representative in Poland for the notification of documents in civil and criminal proceedings in Poland and if no representative is appointed, then documents are lodged with a court and dealt with as if they had indeed been notified as part of a court case. People unaware that documents had been lodged with a court find it difficult to get hold of said documents and get involved in legal proceedings in Poland, explains the Commission, and the practice therefore amounts to indirect discrimination on the grounds of nationality, barring the access of EU nationals to justice.
Environment. Seven countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia) are formally requested to comply with EU Directive 2009/128/EC on use of pesticides compatible with sustainable development. The countries have not yet fully transposed the directive into their legal systems, missing the 30 November 2011 deadline. The Commission has found shortcomings in the certification schemes for professional pesticide users in Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania Poland and Slovenia. Bulgaria and Luxembourg have not yet notified any transposition measures.
The Commission is again asking the Netherlands to put an end to the deterioration of the Western Scheldt basin, a totally unique and protected ecosystem in north-west Europe that is part of “Natura 2000.” The estuary is suffering from successive deepenings of the navigation channel and other human activities, which has significantly reduced the surface area of natural habitat. The Commission is not happy with the corrective measures offered by the Netherlands.
Slovenia is being sent a formal request that it brings rubbish dumps in line with EU rules, whereby landfill sites must only be used as a last resort. Recognising that the country has now introduced a suitable system for dealing with waste, the Commission points out that eighteen landfill sites continue to break EU rules - ten municipal landfill sites do not have the proper authorisation and eight other sites are still operating despite refusal by the national authorities to issue the necessary authorisations. (MB/OL/LC/SP/transl.fl)