Information;Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2025:615
Date: 2025-08-01
Language of the case: Spanish
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Spain

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 1 August 2025 – Commission v Spain (Work-life balance directive) (Case C‑70/24) ( Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Article 258 TFEU – Work-life balance for parents and carers – Directive (EU) 2019/1158 – Article 20(1) – Failure to transpose and notify transposition measures – Article 260(3) TFEU – Application for the imposition of a lump sum and a daily penalty payment – Criteria for establishing the amount of the penalty ) 1. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Directive 2019/1158 – Failure to transpose within the prescribed period – Failure to notify transposition measures – Failure to fulfil obligations (Art. 258 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Directive 2019/1158, Arts 12 and 20(1) and (4)) (see paragraphs 57-66, operative parts 1 and 2) 2. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Judgment of the Court establishing the failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations – Failure to fulfil the obligation to notify measures transposing a directive – Financial penalties – Discretion of the Court – Criteria (Art. 260(3) TFEU; European Parliament and Council Directive 2019/1158, Art. 20(1)) (see paragraphs 83-115, operative part 3) Operative part The Court: 1. Declares that, by failing, on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion of the European Commission, to adopt all of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU and, therefore, by failing to notify them to the Commission, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 20(1) of Directive 2019/1158; 2. Declares that, by failing, at the time of the Court’s examination of the facts, to adopt all of the necessary measures to transpose the provisions of Directive 2019/1158 into domestic law and, therefore, to notify those measures to the European Commission, the Kingdom of Spain has persisted in its failure to fulfil its obligations. 3. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay to the European Commission: – a lump sum in the amount of EUR 6 832 000; – in the event that the failure to fulfil obligations established in point 1 of the operative part were to persist on the date of delivery of the present judgment, a daily penalty payment in the amount of EUR 19 700 from that date until that Member State has put an end to the failure to fulfil obligations. 4. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission.