E-7/17 EFTA Surveillance Authority v Iceland

EVA-hof zaak

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Deadlines: Motivering departement:    13 december 2017
Schriftelijke opmerkingen:                    29 januari 2018 (fatale termijn)

Keywords: failure to implement; Directive

Subject:
-           Directive 2014/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of simple pressure vessels;

Facts of the case:

By this application, the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) seeks a declaration from the Court that Iceland has failed to make the Act referred to at point 6f of Chapter VIII of Annex II to the Agreement on the EEA Agreement, that is, Directive 2014/29/EU, as adapted to the Agreement by way of Protocol 1 thereto, part of its internal legal order, and in any event has failed to notify ESA of the measures it has adopted to implement the Act, as required by Article 7 of the EEA Agreement. On 14.09.2016, after correspondence, ESA issued a letter of formal notice, in which it concluded that Iceland had failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 7 EEA by failing to adopt the national measures necessary to make the Act part of its legal order. On 10.11.2016, the Icelandic Government declared by letter that the Act had still not been implemented and that the aim was to publish the national regulation implementing the Act in February 2017. Having received no further information, ESA delivered a reasoned opinion on 08.12.2016, maintaining the conclusion set out in its letter of formal notice. Pursuant to Article 31 (2) SCA, ESA required Iceland to take the measures necessary to comply with the reasoned opinion within two months following the notification, that is, no later than 08.02.2017. Iceland did not reply formally to the reasoned opinion. By informal correspondence received by email on 03.05.2017, the Icelandic Government informed ESA that it expected that the Directive would be implemented in the summer of 2017. By a response sent on 02.06.2017 to ESA’s follow-up request for a more specific timeline, the Icelandic Government informed ESA that the staff member in charge was out of office and an email would be sent later that week with further information. However, no further correspondence has been received. Since Iceland did not comply with the reasoned opinion by the deadline set therein, ESA decided on 12.07.2017 to bring the matter before the Court pursuant to Article 31(2) SCA. The Government of Iceland submits that the facts of the case, as brought forward by ESA, are correct and undisputed by the Government of Iceland. The Government of Iceland wishes to inform that a national regulation, implementing the directive, will be published and in force as of 27.11.2017.

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Specifiek beleidsterrein: SZW