The Czech Republic has reduced the proportion of unimplemented EU directives below one percent – EURACTIV.cz

According to the Minister for Legislation, Michal Šalomoun (for the Pirates), the Czech Republic managed to reduce the ratio of long-term unimplemented European directives into its own legislation below one percent, which is considered an acceptable level among member countries. Of the 36 directives that remained unimplemented by the previous government and threatened with fines totaling up to two billion crowns, there are now nine directives that have expired. Solomon’s office informed about this after the government discussed today the report on the state of fulfillment of legislative obligations towards the EU.

This year, the commission stopped 42 proceedings conducted against the Czech Republic for failure to comply with the obligation to incorporate EU regulations in a timely manner. The Czech Republic is currently facing 25 pre-trial proceedings, of which 18 are in the initial phase of the so-called formal notification, in six cases, according to Šalomoun, it is a reasoned opinion.

“According to the evaluation of the European Commission, the Czech Republic has moved to roughly halfway in the ranking of evaluated states,” said the minister. According to him, among the long-term unfinished business, for example, the standard of the Ministry of Agriculture processing the three-year-old directive on the quality of water intended for human consumption is in the final stage of preparation.

Among the examples where the Czech Republic managed to avoid a lawsuit and subsequently the imposition of a fine, the minister cited the Directive on Audiovisual Media Services, where a fine of up to 80 million crowns was threatened for the late adoption of the Act on Video Sharing Platform Services, and an amendment to the Labor Code with the threat of a fine approximately 90 million crowns.

In one case, the dispute reached the stage of filing a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice, namely for the late adoption of the Whistleblower Protection Act, which took effect on August 1, 2023. The Czech Republic was supposed to incorporate the relevant directive into its legislation by December 2021, when the current cabinet was just entering the Straka Academy. The proceedings are still ongoing and, according to Šalomoun, the Czech negotiators are trying to keep the sanction as low as possible.