site.btaEU Court of Justice Fines Bulgaria with EUR 1.6 Mln for Failure to Transpose Clean Vehicles Directive

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ordered Bulgaria to pay a lump sum of EUR 1,593,000 for failure to comply with the deadline for transposition of the Clean and Energy Efficient Road Vehicles Directive

On September 29 2021, the Commission sent Bulgaria a formal letter of notification that the deadline for transposing Directive 2019/1161 on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles had expired and that it had not yet been notified of the measures taken to fully transpose it.

In the absence of a follow-up notification, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion on April 6 2022 inviting Bulgaria to take the necessary measures within two months from the date of its receipt.

As more than 20 months after the expiry of the deadline, the measures for full transposition had still not been adopted or, at least, not communicated to the Commission, it referred Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Directive (EU) 2019/1161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles aims to promote and stimulate the market for clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles and improve the contribution of the transport sector to the environment, climate and energy policies of the Union. In order to achieve those objectives, the directive requires Member States to ensure that, when procuring certain road transport vehicles, contracting authorities and contracting entities take into account energy and environmental impacts over the entire lifetime of the road transport vehicles, including energy consumption and emissions of CO2 and of certain pollutants.

In accordance with Article 2(1) of the directive, the Member States had to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with it by 2 August 2021 at the latest, and to inform the Commission thereof immediately.