EC opens seven infringement cases against Bulgaria, including two on VAT

The European Commission said on January 31 that it opened seven new infringement cases against Bulgaria for failing to notify the transposition of EU directives into national law, including two new cases regarding the implementation EU rules on value-added tax (VAT).

In its latest infringements package, the EC said that it was sending letters of formal notice, the first stage in the infringement process, related to member states’ failure to implement the provisions of 11 directives whose deadlines expired in recent months.

Two of those directives concerned the VAT scheme for small enterprises (Directive 2020/285), which allows them to sell goods and services without charging value-added tax, and Directive 2022/542 on VAT rates, which gives member states wider latitude in setting reduced rates. Bulgaria failed to transpose either of those two directives, the Commission said.

The other five new infringement cases against Bulgaria concern the country’s failure to implement EU rules on information exchange between law enforcement authorities (Directive 2023/977), minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (Directive (EU) 2024/1174), reporting air pollutant emission projections (Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2024/299), ferry safety (Directive 2023/946), and gender balance on corporate boards (Directive 2022/2381).

The EC said that Bulgaria had two months to reply to the letters of formal notice and complete the transposition of EU rules in those areas, otherwise the Commission may decide to take the cases into the second stage of the infringement process by issuing a reasoned opinion.

(Entrance to the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission. Photo: EU Audiovisual Service)

Please support independent journalism by clicking on the button below. For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com and get access to exclusive subscriber-only content:

Become a Patron!

Comments

comments

The Sofia Globe staff

The Sofia Globe - the Sofia-based fully independent English-language news and features website, covering Bulgaria, the Balkans and the EU. Sign up to subscribe to sofiaglobe.com's daily bulletin through the form on our homepage. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=32709292