Brussels, 29/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 June, the European Commission decided to pursue infringement procedures against eight member states (France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) for failure to implement certain internal market directives in national law. The Commission will refer France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden to the European Court of Justice over their failure to implement a directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. It also intends to formally request Greece, Malta and Spain to implement the Capital Requirements Directive (see EUROPE 94456 for further information on procedures against Spain). These formal requests take the form of “reasoned opinions”, the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. (cd)