25/07/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 25 July, the European Commission decided to take Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union for limiting to six months per year the maximum duration for the provision of temporary cross-border social services, such as counselling or advocacy services, services of general interest, therapy or rehabilitation services, vocational training services and care services, according to a press release. The Bulgarian Social Services Act infringes Article 16 of Directive 2006/123/EC on services and Articles 56 and 57 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. Member States are not authorised to set a maximum duration for temporary services and cannot require economic operators to set up a permanent establishment on their territory in order to be able to provide services there. Bulgaria acknowledged the violation back in 2020, but since then has not taken any measures to ensure compliance with EU law. (SP)