site.btaBulgaria Named in Five EC Infringement Decisions Pursuing Legal Action against Member States

Brussels, January 25 (BTA corr. Nikolay Zheliazkov) - Bulgaria is named in five European Commission documents in the EC's January infringements package.

The relevant documents are given by policy area.

In the area of Agriculture and Rural Development, the EC decided to send a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria regarding its Trademark and Geographical Indication Act of 1 September 1999. The EC takes the view that a national protection of geographical indications is not compatible with EU rules on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs - Regulation EU No. 1151/2012. The EU regulation, according to a consistent case law provides for a uniform and exhaustive system of protection for geographical indications falling within its scope. Bulgaria should have put an end to this national registration system from the date of the accession to the EU in 2007 and could only have protected existing national geographical indications for 12 months after the date of accession if an application at EU level had been done during this limited period. Bulgaria has two months to reply to the arguments raised by the EC; otherwise, the EC may decide to send a reasoned opinion.

In the area of Digital Single Market, Bulgaria and the Netherlands are referred to the Court of Justice of the EU for delay in transposing the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (Directive 2014/61/EU). Member States had to transpose the Directive into national law by 1 January 2016. The EC is calling on the Court to impose financial penalties: for Bulgaria - 22,226.40 euros per day, for the Netherlands - 87,091.20 euros per day. The infringement proceedings were opened against those countries in March 2016 and a reasoned opinion was sent in September 2016. These Member States have not yet notified the EC all the measures necessary in order to transpose the Directive into national law. In July 2017, the EC decided to refer Belgium and Slovakia to the Court of Justice of the EU for delay in transposing the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive. The Broadband Cost Reduction Directive aims at incentivizing cooperation across sectors and exploiting synergies (e.g. with energy, water, transport) to the benefit of the citizens by creating the condition for more efficient deployment of new physical infrastructure so that the networks can be rolled out at lower cost.

In the Internal Energy Market the EC has requested Bulgaria to correctly implement the Electricity Directive (Directive 2009/72/EC) and the Gas Directive (Directive 2009/73/EC). The Directives are part of the Third Energy Package. According to the EC's assessment, Bulgaria has incorrectly transposed several unbundling requirements concerning the ownership unbundling model, the independent transmission operator unbundling model and the distribution system operator. Also, Bulgaria has not correctly transposed the rules on connection to the network by allowing the gas transmission system operator to refuse connection on the basis of lack of system capacity. Bulgaria has two months to comply with its obligations; otherwise, the the EC may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.

In the area of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, the EC requested that Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden fully implement the revised Directive on Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID II, Directive 2014/65/EU) into their national framework. The Directive, together with a Regulation (MiFIR, Regulation 9EU) No. 600/2014), was adopted in response to the financial crisis to help forge more transparent, competitive and integrated EU financial markets in order to ensure less trading outside regulated markets, higher protection for investors and consumers and, ultimately, to increase financial stability. Although the original deadline for the transposition of the Directive was extended by one year, from 3 July 2016 to 3 July 2017, the above-mentioned Member States have not fully or not at all implemented the rules into their national legislation. In this context, the EC has also requested that Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain fully implement the Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 of 7 April 2016 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU, or MiFID II) with regard to safeguarding of financial instruments and funds belonging to clients, product governance obligations and the rules applicable to the provision or reception of fees, commissions or any monetary or non-monetary benefits. If the measures to fully enact these Directives are not notified within two months, the Commission may decide to refer these Member States to the Court of Justice of the EU.

In the area of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, the EC issued a reasoned opinion to Austria, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and Spain for failing to transpose the EU rules on the European Investigation Order in criminal matters (Directive 2014/41/EU) into its national law. Based on mutual recognition, the Directive requires Member States to recognize and carry out the request for evidence from another Member State in the same way and under the same modalities as they would for a request coming from their national authority. Member States had to implement EU rules on the European Investigation Order into their national legislation by 22 May 2017. The Commission had sent a letter of formal notice to these Member States in July 2017. If the concerned Member States fail to act within two months, the case may be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU.

In terms of procedural rights, the EC issued a reasoned opinion calling on Bulgaria to communicate information about how the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings (Directive 2013/48/EU) is being transposed into its national laws. In the EU, anyone suspected of a crime has a fundamental right to a fair trial and defence. The Directive on the right of access to a lawyer helps to ensure this fundamental right. The Directive had to be transposed into national law by 27 November 2016. The EC had sent a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria in January 2017. To this day, Bulgaria has still not notified the EC of any national rules which implement this EU law. Therefore, the EC has decided to send Bulgaria a reasoned opinion. If Bulgaria fails to act within two months, the case may be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU.