05/10/2017 (Agence Europe) – The European Commission urges Croatia and Romania to transpose Directive (EU) 2015/720 which seeks to reduce the consumption in the EU of single-use lightweight plastic carrier bags, which are polluting the oceans. It sent reasoned opinions to the two countries, the institution announced on Wednesday 4 October. The deadline for transposing the directive was 27 November 2016. Croatia and Romania will now have two months to respond. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may refer them to the Court of Justice of the EU. Under the terms of the directive, member states may introduce charging for lightweight plastic bags by the end of 2018 or other measures to reduce annual per capita consumption of such bags to 90 by 2019 and to 40 by 2025 (as compared with 176 in 2010). (AN)