Cyprus is receiving two letters of formal notice, as part of the January infringements package announced by the European Commission on Thursday. The two infringement procedures are related to member states not meeting reduction commitments for several air pollutants, and the incorrect implementation of the EU Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online.
The European Commission launches infringement procedures by sending letters of formal notice, and subsequently, if the member state in question does not complain, can issue a reasoned opinion. If the member state continues to not comply with EU law, the Commission can take the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Reducing emissions of several air pollutants
The Commission is calling on Cyprus and another 13 member states (Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden) to respect their reduction commitments for several air pollutants as required by?Directive 2016/2284 on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (the ‘National Emission Ceilings’ or ‘NEC Directive’).
The NEC Directive sets national emission reduction commitments for several?pollutants?to be attained by each Member State each year between 2020 and 2029, and more ambitious reductions for 2030 onwards. Member States are required to establish national air pollution control programmes (NAPCPs) to show how these reduction commitments will be met.
The Commission analysed the national emission inventories of several pollutants submitted by Member States in 2022 (reflecting emissions from 2020). The 14 Member States mentioned above have failed to meet their commitments for one or several pollutants targeted by the NEC Directive.
The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to these 14 Member States, which now have two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
Terrorist content online
Also, the Commission has called on Cyprus and another 21 member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden to correctly implement the EU Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online (Regulation (EU) 2021/784).
The Regulation provides a legal framework to ensure removal of terrorist content online within one hour after receipt of a removal order issued by a national competent authority and obliges companies to take special measures when their platforms are exposed to such content. At the same time, it puts in place strong safeguards to guarantee that freedom of expression and information are fully respected.
Following the entry into application of the Regulation on 7 June 2022, not all Member States have adopted all the measures as outlined in the Regulation into their national law. The Commission therefore considers that the aforementioned member states have failed to fully implement the obligations under the regulation and they have now two months to respond to the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
Source: Cyprus News Agency