The European Commission has presented updates on five infringement procedures against Bulgaria concerning the protection of personal data, the exchange of tax information, controls on explosives, rules on the development of renewable energy sources, and waste processing.
The Commission has called on Bulgaria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia to comply with rules on personal data protection. It noted that these countries, along with Germany, have incorrectly transposed European rules in this area. These member states now have two months to respond and address the shortcomings, after which the Commission will decide whether to carry on with the procedure.
Commission calls on Belgium, Bulgaria and Cyprus to finalise the implementation of the information exchange rules on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation. EU rules require member states to standardize the collection of the top-up tax information return and to automatically exchange the information in that return. The top-up tax information return is part of the filing obligations for ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large-scale domestic groups in the Union. Belgium, Bulgaria and Cyprus have so far not adopted or notified all national transposition measures, while tax authorities across the EU should be able to start exchange information on multinational companies as from June 2026.
The countries concerned now have two months to respond and take the necessary measures. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union with requests for financial sanctions.
Bulgaria and Poland are still failing to correctly apply EU rules on the marketing and use of explosives precursors.
The European Commission has opened infringement procedures against Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia over restrictive mandatory schemes introduced by these countries for authorising or certifying energy-related installation and construction services. According to the Commission, barriers exist in these countries and in France to the installation of renewable energy production equipment.
The Commission said countries could use less restrictive measures, such as subsequent checks, to ensure the quality of such installation services instead of limiting market access through mandatory certification or registration requirements. It has identified cases in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia and Spain where even broader certification and registration requirements are imposed for construction activities. Such national regulations and related obligations lead to market fragmentation, make access to these activities more difficult and limit consumer choice and the availability of these services, the Commission explained.
The Commission decided to continue the infringement procedure against Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania for failing to meet several waste recycling targets, and to open such a procedure against Germany, Greece and Cyprus. The EU has set legally binding targets for preparing for reuse and recycling of municipal waste (such as paper, metal, plastic and glass). Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania failed to achieve the 50% preparations target until 2020. It was required that between 55% and 80% of all packaging waste must be recycled by December 31, 2008. The established recycling goals for various materials include 60% for glass, 60% for paper and cardboard, 50% for metals, 22.5% for plastics, and 15% for wood.
On this issue, the Commission has given the countries two months to respond and said that afterwards it may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.
Source: BTA
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