Energy at heart of EU bid to open markets

The European Commission issued 28 letters of formal notice to 17 Member States (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia and the United Kingdom ) on 4 April 2006 for failure to transpose the gas and electricity directives properly, or, the case in Spain, for failure to apply them correctly. The Commission is also taking Spain and Luxembourg to the Court of Justice for failure to send it their national implementing measures. It is still looking into whether Portugal’s and Hungary’s laws are in conformity with the legislation.

European Commission: Press Release: IP/06/430: The Commission takes action against Member States which have not opened up their energy markets properly, 4.4.06 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/430&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: Memo: MEMO/06/152: Infringement procedures opened in the gas and electricity market sector, by Member State, 4.4.06 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/152&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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