Brussels, 12/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 12 October, the European Commission sent reasoned opinions to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Finland and the United Kingdom for failing to notify sufficient national implementing measures under the 2002 Directive on the energy performance of buildings. The aim of the directive is to reduce energy consumption by obliging Member States to lay down minimum energy performance standards and apply those for new buildings and for bigger existing buildings. If the Commission does not receive satisfactory responses within two months, it will refer the matter to the Court of Justice. The Commission acted in this way on Thursday due to insufficient information provided by the Member States in question, following the first letters for failure to notify implementing measures, which the Commission had sent in February of this year. In a press release, the Commission points out, moreover, that it is currently examining information forwarded by five other Member States that received similar reasoned opinions in June. We recall that the Member States should have applied the provisions of the 2002 Directive by 2 January 2006 at the very latest. (ol)