The European Commission has initiated new infringement
procedures against Malta
on its failure to adopt emergency plans for chemical plants, electronic waste
and hazardous substances, and for failing to submit an Energy Efficiency Action
Plan. In addition, Malta
has received a final written warning for failing to set up emergency plans for
areas surrounding industrial installations where dangerous substances are handled.
The European Commission has also decided to send a reasoned opinion to Malta for not allowing citizens of
other member states to take up and pursue the profession of notary
In the view of the Commission this nationality requirement is contrary to
the freedom of establishment provided for in Article 43 of the EC Treaty and
cannot be justified by reference to Article 45, which exempts activities
involved in the exercise of official authority.
The Court of Justice has ruled that such involvement must be direct and
specific. However, the Commission considers that this does not apply in the
case of notaries as they cannot impose a decision against the will of one of
the parties they are advising. In other words, notaries do not take decisions
with regard to State authority and therefore cannot be deemed to exercise such
authority.
The Commission has also decided to send a reasoned opinion
to 22 Member States including Malta
for their failure to inform the Commission of measures taken to implement
Directive 2006/100/EC providing for technical adaptations to the Directives on
professional qualifications further to the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union on 1
January 2007.
This Directive updates, amongst others, all the lists of
qualifications which benefit from automatic recognition by completing them with
the corresponding Bulgarian and Romanian qualifications. The deadline for
transposing Directive 2006/100/EC expired on 1 January 2007.
The European Commission on Wedneday decided to take further steps in 550 legal
cases against those Member States that the Commission believes have breached
their obligations under the EC Law. This represents the third round of
infringements.
In today's package, among the many other decisions, the
Commission issued a letter of formal notice against 13 member states for not
submitting national action plans on energy-efficiency. The Commission also
issued letters of formal notice to 14 countries and reasoned opinions to 5 countries
for failing to report information on climate change.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso said:
"Ensuring that member states respect Community law is the core of our
business. The Commission is determined to make sure that citizens and
businesses have the full freedoms that the European Union provides. While
important improvements have been made in recent years, too many infringements
persist. That is why we are determined to act".
