Action brought on 1 February 2018 — European Commission v Republic of Slovenia

(Case C-69/18)

Language of the case: Slovenian

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: H. Støvelbæk, G. von Rintelen and M. Žebre)

Defendant: Republic of Slovenia

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

declare that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2014/56/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts (OJ 2014 L 158, p. 196), or in any event, by failing to communicate those provisions to the Commission, the Republic of Slovenia has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 2 of that directive;

order the Republic of Slovenia to pay a penalty payment, under Article 260(3) TFEU, in the sum of EUR 7986.60 per day, as from the day of delivery of the Court’s judgment in the present case;

order Republic of Slovenia to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In accordance with Article 2 of Directive 2014/56/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, the Republic of Slovenia should have adopted and communicated the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with that directive by 17 June 2016. Since the Republic of Slovenia did not notify the Commission, before the expiry of that deadline, that it has transposed all the provisions of that directive, the Commission decided to refer the case to the Court.

By its action, the Commission asks the Court to order the Republic of Slovenia to pay a penalty of EUR 7986.60 per day. In calculating that amount, the Commission took into consideration the seriousness and the duration of the infringement of EU law, as well as the deterrent effect in relation to the ability of the Member State concerned, namely the Republic of Slovenia, to pay.

The deadline for transposition of the directive expired on 17 June 2013.

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