Brussels, 21/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - A daily penalty of €6,504.96 should be imposed on Cyprus for failing to fully transpose the directive on driving licences (2006/126/EC). That is the proposal brought forward by the European Commission on 21 November. This proposal amends the Commission decision of June of this year to refer Cyprus to the Court of Justice of the EU. Since that decision, Cyprus has informed the Commission that a measure has been taken to partially, at least, transpose the directive. Given this information, the Commission proposed on Wednesday that the amount of the daily penalty payment initially sought should be reduced. Cyprus should have applied Directive 2006/126 since January 2011. The Commission notes that the current situation could complicate the lives of Cypriots who want to apply for a new driving licence elsewhere in the EU and for other Europeans who want to exchange their driving licence for a Cypriot licence.
Reasoned opinions for five countries. Cyprus, Bulgaria and Portugal will have two months in which to demonstrate progress in deploying intelligent transport systems (ITS), as set out in Directive 2010/40/EC. Hitherto, this directive has been only partially transposed into their national laws. If these countries fail to incorporate the directive into national law, as they were required to do by 27 February 2012, the Commission could refer them to the Court. France has also received a reasoned opinion for its failure to come into line with Directive 2008/57/EC on railway interoperability, in particular with regard to the Channel Tunnel. The Commission notes that France has not, since July 2010, properly applied this directive. If France fails to show that it is making efforts on this issue, it lays itself open to referral to the Court. Finally, Germany will have two months to provide information on the efforts it is making to transpose European legislation on insurance of ship owners for maritime claims. If Germany fails to provide a satisfactory response, the Commission could refer it, too, to the Court. (MD/transl.fl)