Brussels, 21/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 June, the European Commission decided to bring Hungary before the EU Court of Justice regarding its legislation on issuing luncheon, leisure and holiday vouchers. The European Commission considers that the restrictions introduced by the Hungarian legislation that took effect on 1 January 2012 run counter to the fundamental principles of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services and to the services directive (2006/123/EC).
In 2011, Hungary amended its legislation on the issue of vouchers for meals (hot or cold), leisure and holidays, granted by employers to their employees and considered as benefits in kind and therefore subject to more favourable tax and social security rules. This legislation entered into force on 1 January 2012 with no significant transitional period or measures. Previously, there were no specific conditions on employers issuing hot- and cold-meal vouchers to their employees, or for the form of such vouchers. This new legislation has created a monopoly for a public foundation responsible for issuing cold-meal vouchers (paper or electronic) and hot-meal vouchers (paper), granted by employers to their employees. Furthermore, it establishes very strict conditions for the issue of vouchers for hot meals, leisure and holidays, considered as benefits in kind, which may no longer be in electronic form.
According to the Commission, the new legislation means that operators present on the hot and cold meal vouchers market for several years are now excluded from the market for vouchers considered as benefits in kind, entry for new operators is made more difficult and the free provision of services is impossible. “The allocation of the income of this new monopoly to social expenditure cannot be a valid reason justifying the restrictions in place”, is the view in Brussels.
Since Hungary has not brought its legislation into line with the reasoned opinion sent to it in November 2011, the Commission has decided to refer this case to the Court of Justice.
Public procurement. Still in relation to the internal market, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Italy on Thursday, urging it to correctly apply EU rules on public procurement to a procedure for the construction of new buildings for the judicial administration of Bari, the estimated value of which is €350 million. Italy has not applied the applicable EU public procurement rules, considering that the contract would only constitute a lease agreement, not a works contract. The Commission therefore takes the view that Italy has failed in its obligations under Directive 93/37/EEC concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts (applicable at the time of award).
The European Commission also sent a reasoned opinion to Romania, requesting it to fully comply with the European directives on public procurement. It argues that the tender procedure for a works contract for the rehabilitation of the national road between Crasna and Iasi was conducted in breach of Directives 2004/18/EC and 89/665/EEC. The tender procedure was managed by the Romanian national company of roads and motorways and was conducted on the basis of a national law which was later found to be incompatible with European rules on public procurement. As a result, essential information from the contract notice was missing and those submitting tenders were deprived of their full right to effective review.
If no measures are notified by Rome and Budapest to put an end to the breaches of EU law within two months, the Commission may decide to refer matters to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Freedom of establishment and free movement of services. Finally, the European Commission has requested that Slovenia respect EU rules on the freedom of establishment and the free provision of services. Following infringement procedures initiated by the Commission, Slovenian legislation was amended to allow higher education institutions from other member states to offer their programmes in Slovenia. The current law, however, states that a special administrative procedure needs to be set up by secondary legislation in order for EU providers to be able to operate in Slovenia. The secondary legislation has not been adopted despite the legal obligation to do so. In practice, this means that higher education institutions from other member states cannot exercise their right to establish a branch or subsidiary or provide education through validation or franchise agreements because the administrative procedure provided by the law is not yet in place. As Slovenia has not adopted the necessary criteria and conditions for this administrative procedure, the Commission requests, in the form of a reasoned opinion, that it take measures to fully comply with EU rules. If there is no satisfactory response from the Slovenian authorities within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the EU Court of Justice. (OL/transl.jl)