Action brought on 26 July 2023 – European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria
(Case C-480/23)
Language of the case: Bulgarian
Parties
Applicant: European Commission (represented by: E. Ruseva and P. Messina, acting as Agents)
Defendant: Republic of Bulgaria
Form of order sought
The Commission claims that the Court should:
find that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2019/1161 1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles, or, in any event, by failing to notify them to the Commission, the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 2(1) of that directive;
order the Republic of Bulgaria to pay the Commission a lump sum payment corresponding to the higher of the following two amounts: (i) a daily sum of EUR 1800, multiplied by the number of days between the day following the expiry of the time limit for transposition, laid down in that directive, and the day on which the infringement ceased, or, if the infringement has not ceased, the day on which the judgment is handed down, or (ii) a minimum lump sum payment of EUR 504 000;
in the event that the failure to fulfil the obligations referred to in the first indent continues up to the date of delivery of the judgment in the present proceedings, order the Republic of Bulgaria to make a periodic penalty payment to the Commission in the amount of EUR 10 800 per day, from the date on which the Court gives judgment in the present proceedings until that State has fulfilled its obligations under the directive;
order the Republic of Bulgaria to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
Directive (EU) 2019/1161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles aims to promote and stimulate the market for clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles and improve the contribution of the transport sector to the environment, climate and energy policies of the Union. In order to achieve those objectives, the directive requires Member States to ensure that, when procuring certain road transport vehicles, contracting authorities and contracting entities take into account energy and environmental impacts over the entire lifetime of the road transport vehicles, including energy consumption and emissions of CO2 and of certain pollutants.
In accordance with Article 2(1) of the directive, the Member States had to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with it by 2 August 2021 at the latest, and to inform the Commission thereof immediately. When adopting the provisions transposing the directive, the Member States must also ensure that those provisions contain a reference to the directive or are accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the Republic of Bulgaria on 29 September 2021. On 6 April 2022, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to the Republic of Bulgaria. Despite this, the transposing measures have not yet been adopted by the Republic of Bulgaria or notified to the Commission.
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1 OJ 2019 L 188, p. 116.