European Commission takes Bulgaria to ECJ over rules on posting of drivers
The European Commission said on October 8 that it has decided to refer Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) over its failure to fully transpose Directive (EU) 2020/1057 on the posting of drivers.
As part of its latest infringements package, the EC said that Bulgaria has made “insufficient” efforts to implement the directive, the deadline for which was February 2022, and asked the ECJ to impose financial sanctions.
The directive is meant to ensure that drivers hired in lower-income member states of the EU, such as Bulgaria, who work in jobs in Western European countries are subject to the same regulations (including on remuneration) as local workers, preventing unfair competition and labour market undercutting.
“Late transposition of the Directive results in challenges for the drivers to receive fair remuneration, to enforce the rules correctly and for the operators to conduct their business within a clear legal framework,” the EC said.
This takes the number of ECJ referrals of infringement cases against Bulgaria to five this year, following six other cases referred to the court last year and seven more referred to the ECJ in 2023.
In its October infringements package, the Commission also opened a new infringement proceeding against Bulgaria for failing to submit its report on the implementation of Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2019/944, which establishes common rules for the internal market for electricity within the EU.
Additionally, the EC opened another new infringement proceeding against Bulgaria for failing to correctly transpose the provisions of the Firearms Directive (Directive (EU) 2021/555), which sets common minimum standards on the acquisition, possession, and commercial exchange of civilian firearms.
Bulgaria now two months to address the concerns raised by the EC or the Commission may decide to escalate the proceedings with a reasoned opinion.
The EC said that it did just so in the ongoing infringement case regarding Bulgaria’s failure to correctly transpose into national law the Directive 2011/93/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
Should Bulgaria fail to address the Commission’s concerns laid out in the reasoned opinion in the next two months, the EC can choose to refer the case to the ECJ.
(Entrance to the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission. Photo: EU Audiovisual Service)
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