What is an infringement procedure?
According to the EU treaties, the Commission may take legal action – an infringement procedure – against an EU Member State that implements EU law incompletely or incorrectly. The Commission may refer the issue to the Court of Justice, which can impose financial sanctions.
The Commission identifies possible infringements of EU law on the basis of its own investigations, the communication of transposition measures submitted by Member States or following complaints from citizens, businesses or other stakeholders.
You can find out more by visiting the dedicated section on Implementing EU law.
The stages of an infringement procedure
If a Member State fails to communicate measures transposing directives into their national legal order (e.g. adopting national laws fully implementing the content of a directive in the national legal order), or doesn’t rectify a violation of EU law (e.g. the breach/bad application of the EU Treaties, Regulations, Directives, Decisions etc.), the Commission may launch a formal infringement procedure. The procedure follows a number of steps laid out in the EU treaties, each ending with a formal decision:
The Commission sends a letter of formal notice explaining the detected grievance to the Member State concerned, which must send a reply within a specified period, usually 2 months. Member States can provide further information and their arguments to reply to the Commission’s arguments.
If the Commission still concludes that the Member State is failing to fulfil its obligations under EU law, it may send a reasoned opinion. It explains why the Commission considers that the Member State is breaching EU law. Member States must reply within a specified period, usually 2 months.
If the Member State still doesn't comply or the explanations provided are deemed unsatisfactory, the Commission may decide to refer the matter to the Court of Justice. Most cases are settled before being referred to the court.
If the case concerns the failure by a Member State to communicate measures implementing the provisions of a directive, the Commission will ask the Court of Justice to impose financial penalties.
If the court finds that a Member State has breached EU law, the national authorities must take action to comply with the Court of Justice judgment (and in the case in point 4, above, the court will impose financial penalties).
If, despite the court's judgment, the Member State still doesn't rectify the situation, the Commission may refer the Member State back to the Court of Justice.
This second procedure begins by sending a letter of formal notice to the Member State concerned. If the Member State does not reply on time or the explanations are not satisfactory, the Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice for a second time (there is no reasoned opinion stage).
When referring a Member State to the Court of Justice for the second time, the Commission will request that the Court of Justice impose financial penalties, which will consist of a lump sum and/or a daily payment depending on the circumstances of the case.
Annual report on monitoring the application of EU law
The Commission also publishes an annual report reviewing key aspects of the application of EU law and presenting relevant implementation and enforcement actions by policy area and country.
EU Home Affairs law infringement
DG HOME is responsible for ensuring that Member States apply EU Home Affairs law correctly.
Complaints
Anyone can file a complaint to the Commission about any measure (law, regulation or administrative action) or the absence of a measure or practice by an EU country that they consider incompatible with EU law.
Find out more about how to make a complaint or view the standard complaint form.
The Commission may decide to start infringement proceedings following the assessment of complaints submitted by citizens. In this context, in order to facilitate and improve complaints handling, the Commission services may use CHAI – a pilot tool to test ‘smart search’ and ‘smart drafting’ and 'legal analysis' functionalities using AI.”