EC Takes Estonia to Court Over Internal Energy Market Rules
The European Commission has filed a complaint with the Court of Justice against Estonia, alongside Bulgaria and the UK, for failing to fully adopt EU internal energy market rules.
Estonia has failed to fully streamline national laws with the EU's Electricity and Gas Directives, a statement released by the commission on Thursday said.
In Estonia's case, the commission requested daily penalties totaling 9,292 euros. Bulgaria's fine was in the same ballpark, but a much larger daily penalty, of 148,177 euros, was requested for the UK.
"The penalties proposed take into account the duration and the gravity of the infringement,“ the commission's statement said.
The deadline for implementing the laws was in March 2011. The commission sent a formal warning to Estonia in September 2011 and further objections in February and April 2012.
The commission has previously taken action against a number of member states for violating internal energy market rules, and it is currently examining the situation in other countries as well.
In 2011, the EU heads of state declared the need to complete the internal energy market by 2014.
The rules violated by Estonia, called the "third internal energy market package," includes new rules on unbundling of networks, strengthening the powers of national regulators and the functioning of retail markets to the benefit of consumers.