On Thursday 17 November, the European Commission sent reasoned opinions to Bulgaria, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, calling on them to fully transpose the directive on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations, which was due to have been transposed into national law by 19 July 2015.
Directive 2013/30/EU lays down a raft of rules aiming to prevent accidents and to react quickly and efficiently to such eventualities. Under these rules, the member states are required to ensure that the companies to which they grant exploration or production licences are well financed and have the necessary technical expertise, and that they keep resources at hand in order to put them into operation when necessary. The companies are fully liable for environmental damage caused to protected species and natural habitats.
The Commission, which identified gaps in the transposition instruments of this text of the four countries in question, has given them a period of two months to come into line with their obligations, on pain of a referral to the Court of Justice of the EU. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)