The European Commission has referred the UK to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) for failing to meet a March 2011 deadline to transpose the directives into national law. The directives do not yet apply in Northern Ireland but are in force throughout the rest of the UK.
“Delays in implementation of the EU Internal Energy Market rules have negative effects on all players and are therefore not acceptable,” said EU’s Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. The Department of Energy and Climate Change said EU rules would be implemented in Northern Ireland by April this year.
The Commission has recommended that the UK be subject to a daily penalty of £127,000 for each directive from the day of the court’s judgment until each directive is fully transposed. The suggested penalty reflects the “duration and gravity” of the infringement. The court could order a different penalty.