Report from the Commission - 26th annual Report on monitoring the application of community law (2008) {SEC(2009) 1683} {SEC(2009) 1684} {SEC(2009) 1685}
Date: 2009-12-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU control, activity report, application of EU law, national implementing measure

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 15.12.2009 
COM(2009) 675 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

26th ANNUAL REPORT ON MONITORING THE APPLICATION OF 
COMMUNITY LAW (2008) 

{SEC(2009) 1683} 
{SEC(2009) 1684} 
{SEC(2009) 1685} 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

26th ANNUAL REPORT ON MONITORING THE APPLICATION OF COMMUNITY 
LAW (2008) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

In 2007 the Commission Communication on 'A Europe of results – applying Community law'1 
stated that the Commission would develop the focus of its annual report on strategic issues, 
evaluation  of  the  current  state  of  the  law,  priorities  and  programming  of  future  work.  Last 
year's  report2  focused  on  a  broad  spectrum  of  current  issues  and  challenges  presented  by 
sector and priority actions in the form of: preventive measures; action to manage the acquis; 
problem-solving for citizens; infringements management and new legislation emerging out of 
the regulatory cycle.  

This year's report will follow a structure using greater selection and more detailed comment 
on some sectors, based on the more detailed picture provided in the accompanying document 
"Situation in the different sectors" to this Report. The Report largely refers to actions taken 
under the EC Treaty. Action under the Lisbon Treaty will be the subject of future reports. A 
communication  on  the  application  of  Article  260  of  the  Treaty  on  the  functioning  of  the 
European Union, concerning the authority of the Commission to ask the Court of Justice to 
impose financial sanctions on a Member State, is planned for 2010. 

2. 

GENERAL INFORMATION 

2.1. 

Introduction 

Under  the  EC  Treaty,  Member  States  have  the  primary  responsibility  for  the  application  of 
Community  law.  The  Commission  has  the  authority  and  responsibility  to  ensure  respect  for 
Community  law.  At  the  end  of  2008,  the  rules  of  the  Treaty  were  supplemented  by  some 
8 200 regulations and just under 1 900 directives in force throughout the 27 Member States. 

2.2. 

Complaints and infringement procedures 

The infringement process plays an essential role in guaranteeing the correct application of the 
law. The latest  figures show around  68%  of complaints being closed before  the first formal 
step  in  an  infringement  proceeding;  around  84%  of  infringement  procedures  based  on  a 
complaint are closed before the reasoned opinion stage and around 94% before a ruling from 
the European Court of Justice.  

Comparing infringement registration years 1999-2003 with 1999-2007, the average time taken 
to  process  infringements,  from  opening  the  file  to  sending  the  application  to  the  Court  of 
Justice  under  Article  226  of  the  EC  Treaty,  fell  from  around  27  months  to  24.  The  average 
time taken to process cases concerning failure to notify Member State measures transposing 

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COM(2007) 502. 
COM(2008) 777. 

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directives remained around 14 months. In 2008, no second referral to the Court under Article 
228 of the Treaty was made, compared with 7 cases in 2007. 

At  the  end  of  2008,  the  Commission  was  handling  over  3 400  complaints  and  infringement 
files.  The  total  number  increased  by  a  little  less  than  one  per  cent  from  2007,  with  a  15% 
decrease  in  proceedings  for  failure  to  notify  measures  transposing  directives.  Complaints 
accounted for 54% of the total or 64% of all cases on issues other than late transposition of 
directives, a 9% increase from 2007. The number of own initiative cases under examination at 
the end of 2008 decreased by 3% compared to 2007.  

An  average  of  55%  of  the  total  of  required  transposition  measures  in  2008  were  late, 
compared with a 64% for 2007, in the context of a significantly reduced number of directives 
falling to be transposed in 2008. 

2.3. 

Petitions 

The  number  of  petitions  to  the  European  Parliament  raising  issues  concerning  the  correct 
application of Community law depends on decisions by citizens, businesses and civil society 
to  manifest  their  concerns  in  this  way.  Even  if  most  petitions  do  not  concern,  or  lead  to, 
infringement proceedings, they provide Parliament and Commission with useful information 
on citizens' concerns. 

In  the  field  of  Environment  a  constantly  high  number  of  petitions  have  been  received  in 
particular for the waste sector. In the field of transport the road safety sector accounted for a 
very high number of petitions. In the Internal Market sector almost half of the petitions tabled 
concerned  the  recognition  of  diplomas.  In  the  Taxation  and  custom  field  the  most  recurrent 
subject of petitions is taxation of cars. 

A significant number of petitions have been received also in the sector of justice, freedom and 
security, concerning, in particular, the incorrect application of Community law in the field of 
border  management  (Schengen  Borders  Code),  the  free  movement  of  persons  and 
fundamental rights. 

3. 

CURRENT 
ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTING TO REGULATORY CYCLES  

IMPLEMENTATION,  MANAGEMENT  AND 

ISSUES 

IN 

3.1. 

Introduction 

Community law develops over time according to experience of its application, interpretative 
rulings,  developing  technology,  increasing  expectations  of  efficiency  and  evolving  political 
objectives.  The  process  of  legislative  change  is  managed  through  a  sequence  of  stages 
including  review  and  consultation  leading  to  legislative  proposal,  adoption,  implementation, 
application,  management  and  enforcement  and  further  review  and  consultation.  Each  sector 
demonstrates  a  different  combination  of  elements  leading  to  legislative  cycles  lasting  for 
anything from around two to twenty years.  

The  following  sections  identify  some  key  aspects  of  the  implementation,  management  and 
enforcement  of  Community  law,  indicating  the  contribution  they  make  to  legislative  cycles, 

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including  some  key  examples  taken  from  the  sectors  described  in  more  detail  in  the 
accompanying document "Regulatory cycle – Example sectors"3. 

3.2. 

Late  transposition  and  reporting  -  increased  implementation  planning  and 
preventive action 

The  late  transposition  of  directives  continues  to  constitute  a  wide-ranging  and  far-reaching 
obstacle to the timely application of the law. 55% of required transpositions were late in 2008, 
with  many  examples  extending  over  two  years  or  more.  The  roughly  four  year  legislative 
cycle  for  adoption  and  implementation  is  thereby  regularly  extended,  sometimes  for  years. 
This delay reduces the ability of the EU to respond efficiently to the interests of its citizens 
and economic operators. It undermines coherence in the legal system, reducing legal certainty, 
transparency  and  fair  conditions  of  competition.  Follow-on  work  to  ensure  the  correct 
application  of  the  law  is  delayed.  The  situation  has  improved  on  last  year,  but  the  15% 
improvement  for  the  EU-25  sits  alongside  a  40%  decrease  in  the  volume  of  required 
transpositions. Internal Market Scoreboard no. 19 identified that in May 2009, there were 22 
directives having transposition deadlines over two years ago each with between one and five 
Member States not having yet completed transposition. 

Alongside late transposition is the issue of other kinds of notification required by directives 
which  are  communicated  late.  For  example,  in  'Climate  change  –  emission  trading', 
infringement  proceedings  had  to  be  launched  against  many  Member  States  for  late 
notification of National Allocation Plans (NAPs) for 2008 – 2012. Further work developing 
both  the  implementation  of  the  existing  acquis  and  its  amendment  was  held  up  as  a  result. 
This late reporting contributed significantly to delays in the next steps required to achieve the 
2020 objectives.  

Partly  to  try  to  avoid  late  transposition  and  partly  to  ensure  correct  implementation,  over 
recent  years  increasing  recourse  has  been  had  to  preventive  measures  in  the  form  of  expert 
meetings  and  bilateral  Commission  /  Member  State  dialogue  on  transposition  and 
implementation  issues,  improving  the  possibility  to  resolve  potential  problems  before  they 
become fixed in law. The Commission and Member States have developed a very substantial 
additional commitment to the implementation and application of the law with a view to better 
ensuring that it achieves its objectives. A leading example is the current work programme on 
the  implementation  of  the  Services  directive.  A  detailed  and  extensive  transposition  plan 
provided  the  basis  for  more  than  30  bilateral  meetings  held  with  Member  States  and  13 
meetings of the expert group in 2008 on implementation and the deployment of the Internal 
Market Information System (IMI) to allow direct exchange of information between Member 
State competent authorities. 

Guidelines are also frequently  prepared to  assist  the implementation and application of new 
legislation, as has been extensively the case under the REACH regulation. Lists of answers to 
frequently-asked  questions  are  posted  on  the  internet,  such  as  on  the  directives  concerning 
dangerous preparations, explosives and fertilisers. 

Close attention should be paid to implementation and enforcement issues by the Commission 
in  preparing,  and  by  Parliament  and  Council  when  adopting,  new  legislation  to  ensure  the 
early  and  correct  application  of  the  law.  Review  by  the  European  Parliament  of  the 

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implementation  of  Community  legislation  and  contacts  with  national  parliaments  may  also 
contribute  to  improved  results.  Inter-institutional  discussion  should  identify  the  appropriate 
methods to be applied to ensure improved results. 

3.3. 

The framework, its implementation and management 

The  adoption  of  new  EC  legislation  is  often  the  start,  rather  than  the  end,  of  a  process. 
Framework legislation requires implementing measures. Scientific and technical development 
leads  to  the  introduction  of  new  working  methods.  Advance  information  on  possible  new 
regulatory  action  at  Member  State  level  can  help  to  avoid  new  barriers  to  free  movement. 
Commission  and  Member  States  can  best  ensure  good  management  of  the  application  of 
legislation by regularly reviewing implementation and application issues.  

For  example,  initial  directives  on  pesticide  levels  plant  protection  products  adopted  in  the 
1970s,  1980s  and  1990s  progressively  extended  the  coverage  of  EU  rules  on  residues  for 
different  crops.  This  process  involved  extensive  additional  implementing  work,  with  six 
Council  implementing  directives  adopted  from  mid-1993  to  mid-1997  and  a  further  60 
Commission directives adopted in the following ten years before the adoption of Regulation 
(EC) No 396/20054 consolidating and simplifying the acquis.  

In parallel, phased implementation of directive 91/414/EEC5 on the evaluation, marketing and 
use of plant protection products was organised through programmes adopted in 1992, 2000, 
2002 and 2004, leading up to the Commission's 2006 proposal for a regulation to consolidate 
and further develop the acquis6. 

There  are  other  ways  than  committee  work  in  which  the  application  of  Community  law  is 
managed through collaboration between the Commission and Member States. These include 
provisions requiring the advance notification of draft regulations and procedures to follow-up 
on identified problems. In the field of technical standards for goods and Information Society 
services  alone,7  over  630  notifications  as  well  as  nearly  200  Commission  and  just  over  180 
Member State interventions were managed in 2008.  

3.4. 

Inspections and controls – Commission and Member State actions 

Member  State  and  Commission  inspections  and  reporting  can  also  play  a  key  role  in 
measuring  the  extent  to  which  objectives  are  achieved  on-the-ground,  identifying  different 
kinds  of  problem  appropriate  to  be  addressed  either  through  management  processes, 
infringement proceedings or legislative amendment.  

For  example,  in  aviation  security,  EC  legislation  in  the  early  2000s  provided  for  the 
development  of  Member  State  civil  aviation  security  programmes  following  common  basic 
standards  as  well  as  national  audits  by  Member  States  and  inspections  carried  out  by  the 

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Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 on 
maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin and amending 
Council Directive 91/414/EEC (OJ L 70, 16.3.2005, p. 1). 
Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on 
the market (OJ L 230, 19.8.1991, p. 1). 
Proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  the  placing  of 
plant protection products on the market - SEC(2006) 930 and SEC(2006) 931. 
Directive 98/34/EC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical 
standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services. 

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Commission. The extensive programme of inspections carried out contributed to an estimated 
16%  improved  compliance  while  identifying  the  need  for  additional  harmonisation, 
clarification  and  simplification.  Amending  legislation  was  therefore  adopted  by  Parliament 
and  Council  in  2008,  further  improving  the  rule-making  and  setting  down  basic  principles 
concerning a more far-reaching range of security programmes and internal quality control to 
be adopted by airport operators, carriers and other entities implementing security measures. In 
parallel, the Commission extended peer review in the inspection programme in the context of 
an up-grade of its inspection methodology. 

Another example, in food safety, is the work of the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), which 
scheduled  256  audits  and  inspections  in  2008  to  assure  effective  control  systems  and  to 
evaluate  compliance  with  EU  standards  within  the  EU,  and  in  third  countries  in  relation  to 
their exports to the EU. 

3.5. 

Stakeholder  consultation, 
legislative development 

information-collection  and  reporting 

linked  to 

A variety of techniques is applied to gather information on the impact of legislation on-the-
ground and to test whether objectives are being met. 

On  'Climate  change',  for  example,  in  January  2008  the  Commission  proposed  an  improved 
and  extended  EU  greenhouse  gas  emission  trading  scheme.  The  proposal  resulted  from 
extensive  stakeholder  consultations  during  the  first  trading  period  from  2005–2007.  These 
confirmed  a  lack  of  verified  emissions  data  to  back  the  initial  National  Allocation  Plans 
(NAPs),  leading  to:  excess  issuing  of  allowances  and  some  cases  of  windfall  profits  for 
industry  charging  consumers  for  emission  allocations  received  for  free;  widely  varying 
Member State allocation methods and levels; and a too long and complex Commission NAPs 
approval process. The 2008 proposal for amending legislation therefore put forward a fully-
harmonised  approach  for  an  EU-wide,  annually  shrinking  cap  on  allowances,  targeting  a 
2005–2020 emission reduction of 21%, while phasing-in auctioning as the principal method 
of allowance allocation.  

Another example concerns  late payments under commercial contracts, where initial concern 
was  indicated  by  the  European  Parliament  in  1994  which  led  to  a  Commission 
recommendation  in  1995  as  a  possible  non-legislative  way  of  achieving  improvements. 
Following a further consultation process which confirmed the lack of significant progress, the 
Commission proposed a directive which was adopted in 2000. A report in 2006 then led to a 
study,  a  consultation  of  the  European  Business  Test  Panel  and  a  “Your  Voice  in  Europe” 
public  consultation  in  2008.  The  results,  together  with  the  surveys  organised  in  parallel  by 
interested parties in the Member States, confirmed the need for further reinforcement of the 
rules, which the Commission proposed in 2009. 

On Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), the original directive in 1996 set out a 
ten year implementation programme for the issuing of permits to industrial installations based 
on  their  commitment  to  implementing  best  available  techniques  to  control  the  emission  of 
pollutants. In 1999 the Commission sent a questionnaire for Member States to report in 2003 
for the 2000-2002 implementing period. The results led to the report made by the Commission 
in  2005.  This  identified  significant  delays  in  transposition,  lack  of  sufficient  clarity  in  the 
legislation  and  the  need  for  both  increased  co-ordination  and  speed  of  implementation  and 
consolidation of provisions; leading to the development of an Action Plan on implementation.  

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Over  the  course  of  2006  and  2007,  the  Commission  undertook  a  further  review  on 
implementation  with  all  stakeholders,  based  on  Member  State  reports  for  the  period  2003-
2005 as well as a number of additional external analyses. The results provided clear evidence 
of the need for legislative revision. The Commission therefore adopted in December 2007 a 
Proposal  for  a  recast  Directive  on  Industrial  Emissions  to  consolidate,  extend  and  clarify 
existing  provisions,  tighten  emissions  limits  and  increase  monitoring  and  enforcement.  The 
Action Plan on implementation was also updated, involving more harmonised data collection, 
evaluation and simpler decision-taking procedures. This provided a framework to ensure the 
full implementation of existing provisions up to 2012 when the focus of attention is expected 
to move to implementation of the planned new legislation. 

3.6.  Management of legislation by expert groups  

Preventive measures are taken with the purpose of ensuring the timely and correct application 
of the law, thereby avoiding the need for infringement proceedings. Daily management of the 
acquis  through  around  250  committees  and  1 000  expert  groups,  implementation  and 
technical up-dating work helps to maintain the current validity and practical operability of the 
legislative acquis, facilitating the resolution of problems which could otherwise be the subject 
of infringement proceedings, and the solution of ongoing infringement procedures. 

3.7. 

Problem-solving for citizens, business and civil society interests  

Many  issues  of  interpretation  and  practical  application  of  the  law  can  be  dealt  with  quickly 
and effectively, and with EU-wide effect, through the work of Commission and Member State 
experts  in  committees  and  expert  groups.  Lightweight  horizontal  instruments,  such  as 
SOLVIT and EU Pilot, are also designed to provide quick and direct means to solve the more 
individual problems of citizens, business and civil society with Community law as it applies 
to them.  

Other, sector-specific instruments, such as clearance of accounts in agriculture, ensuring that 
financial  support  payments  depend  on  confirmed  respect  for  the  rules,  have  proven  to  be 
effective  enforcement  tools  applicable  in  certain  areas  of  the  acquis.  There  are  also 
mechanisms introduced in sectoral EC legislation providing means for commercial operators 
to  have  recourse  against  national  authorities.  These  include  provisions  for  appeal  by 
telecommunications  operators  against  the  decisions  of  national  regulators  in  the  electronic 
communication  sector.  There  are  also  the  provisions  on  remedies  in  public  procurement 
motivated in part by the continuing large volume of complaints received by the Commission 
and  consequential  infringement  proceedings  on  respect  for  Community  rules  in  individual 
tendering processes. Such remedies provide more direct and timely means of recourse for the 
enterprises  concerned  than  infringement  proceedings  brought  by  the  Commission  which,  by 
their very nature do not focus on the interests of the parties to the tendering process as such. 

Some  Community  legislation  also  includes  guarantees  of  procedural  recourse  between 
citizens and commercial operators. For example, the growth and diversification of electronic 
communication  services  and  growing  number  of  service  providers  led  to  the  introduction 
under the Universal Service Directive of a mechanism for the settlement of disputes between 
consumers and service provides that is  more  flexible,  cheaper and  less  formal alternative to 
court  proceedings.  The  strengthening  of  the  claim  procedures  in  case  of  delayed  flight 
departures  or  cancellations  in  the  air  transport  sector  constitute  further  examples.  EC 
environmental  law  also  already  provides  for  review  mechanisms  on  refusals  to  provide 

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requested  environmental  information  or  public  consultation  in  relation  to  environmental 
impact assessments and integrated pollution prevention and control permit decisions. 

The  performance  of  these  systems  is  monitored  and  reported  regularly,  with  the  first 
Evaluation Report on EU Pilot in preparation. 

3.8. 

The role of infringement proceedings 

The  Commission  may  open  infringement  proceedings  based  on  different  types  of  claims.  A 
large volume of proceedings concern delays in the communication of Member State measures 
transposing directives. These proceedings generally do not last for more than some months, 
but, can lead to an authoritative legal ruling and the application of financial sanctions should 
the transposition still be delayed. By far the greater number of cases is closed before a first 
Court of Justice ruling. A large volume of work is required to manage these proceedings. 

Infringement proceedings are also used to pursue lack of conformity of Member State laws or 
regulations  and  bad  administrative  practice.  The  detection  by  the  Commission  of  potential 
infringements  of  Community  law  occurs  in  a  wide  variety  of  ways  linked  to  the  different 
functions of the Commission. These functions include its own work reviewing the conformity 
of  Member  State  measures  transposing  directives,  committee  and  expert  group  work  on  the 
implementation  and  application  of  Community  law,  correspondence  and  complaints  from 
citizens,  business  and  civil  society  and  work  with  Member  States  producing  reports  on  the 
application of Community law. 

The Commission has to ensure coherence, efficiency and fair treatment of Member States in 
the management of the potential infringements which come to its attention. The Commission 
has  to  evaluate  whether  it  is  more  justified  to  take  specific  action  on  individual  potential 
infringements brought to its attention or to pursue parallel or collective proceedings across a 
range of different factual and legal circumstances which can strengthen its position. It has to 
evaluate the most appropriate form of action to be taken at any particular moment, given the 
volume and variety of problems arising, with consequences for the timing of any recourse to 
infringement proceedings.  

Experience  shows  that  it  is  often  more  efficient  and  equitable  to  try  to  resolve  recurring  or 
widespread  problems  through  a  more  systematic  approach.  Examples  of  systemic  breaches 
that  the  Commission  has  addressed,  or  is  addressing,  in  the  area  of  protection  of  the 
environment  have  been  explained  in  the  Commission  Communication  in  2008  on  the 
Implementing European Community environmental law8. They included breaches of bathing 
water  and  drinking  water  standards  and  failure  to  collect  and  treat  urban  waste-water, 
tolerance of illegal waste disposal activities and failure to respect hunting rules or derogation 
conditions in the area of nature protection. 

Recurring  or  widespread  problems  may  also  indicate  lack  of  clarity  in  legislative  drafting 
which  may  also  be  more  appropriately  resolved  through  legislative  amendment  than 
enforcement  action.  Legislative  amendment  can  bring  the  additional  benefit  of  legal 
development. Even where a Court of Justice interpretation of the law in a particular case may 
give  rise  to  wider-ranging  implications  for  other  Member  States,  follow-up  action  by  the 
Commission  through  infringement  proceedings  across  a  number  of  Member  States  can 

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constitute  a  more  prolonged  and  complex  legal  process  leading  to  more  diverse  and  less 
transparent results than the adoption of amending legislation, which can bring some additional 
guarantees of clarification and accessibility. 

Likewise,  while  Treaty  provisions  are  usually  effectively  directly  enforced  through 
infringement  proceedings,  co-ordinated  action  by  the  Commission  and  Member  States  can 
also  constitute  an  efficient,  consistent  and  collaborative  way  to  address  the  wide-range  of 
issues  arising.  For  example,  the  diversity  of  the  services  economy  and  the  variety  of  issues 
arising  in  sometimes  widely  differing  contexts  can  make  a  harmonised  approach  unsuitable 
while the direct enforcement of Treaty rules requires a case-by-case approach. This is why the 
Community legislator adopted the Services Directive in 2006 to codify and specify the criteria 
set  out  in  the  EC  Treaty  applicable  to  the  right  of  establishment  and  cross-frontier  service 
provision and to institute a wide-ranging review of Member State authorisation systems and 
legal requirements for access to, or the exercise of, service activities. Similar considerations 
motivated the adoption in 2008 of the "goods package" of measures including the regulation 
on  procedural  aspects  of  the  application  of  the  principle  of  mutual  recognition  for  the  free 
movement  of  goods.  These  measures  can,  of  course,  be  accompanied  by  continuing  direct 
enforcement of Treaty provisions through infringement proceedings. 

Infringement  proceedings  should  in  any  case  not  become  an  automatic  function,  as  they 
cannot always be managed within a strict time-frame determined solely by the context of each 
individual file. They rather have to be managed in the wider context of considerations such as: 
possible recourse to quicker and more effective ways of resolving the issues; the overall legal 
certainty  in  the  sector  concerned,  parallel  issues  in  other  Member  States  giving  rise  to 
considerations of due and fair process and the most efficient means of achieving the overall 
objectives of Community law. 

3.9. 

Legislative simplification - a Better Regulation target 

The  Commission's  agenda  on  'Better  Regulation  –  Simplification'  has  also  led  to  legislative 
amendment to reduce costs for producers, increase transparency and access to the market and 
clarify the law. For example, on construction products, the Better Regulation mandate led to 
the launch of a widespread consultation on the functioning of the directive adopted in the late 
1980s. This in turn led to an extensive reform designed to improve understanding and access, 
reduce  costs  of  compliance  and  improve  clarity  and  effectiveness,  particularly  for  small 
manufacturers.  The  reform  focused  on  the  delivery  of  information  on  product  performance, 
the  clarification  of  the  guarantees  flowing  from  CE  marking,  the  development  of  stricter 
criteria for independent bodies verifying performance and the introduction of more flexibility 
in the demands for testing the products.  

While the Better Regulation agenda can provoke legislative clarification and simplification, it 
can also restrain recourse to legislation, justifying substantial consultation and market testing 
before the case is made out for a legislative initiative, as already described in connection with 
the development of EC law on late payments in commercial transactions. 

3.10.  The role of legislation in ensuring transparency and access to the law 

Transparency,  understanding  of  the  law  and  enforceability  are  all  aided  by  common  and 
consistent sets of legal provisions at the EU and Member State level. Where clear legislation 
and  case  law  exists  side-by-side  there  can  still  be  justification  for  legislative  amendment  to 
improve  transparency  and  access  to  the  law,  just  as  when  a  sequence  of  EC  legislative 

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amendments calls for codification. This explains the interaction between Court of Justice case 
law and EC legislative development, with some combination of both often required to achieve 
the desired result.  

4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

In this report the Commission reviews certain aspects of the current position in the application 
of Community law and: 

•  suggests  an  inter-institutional  dialogue  on  the  causes  and  possible  ways  of 

reducing late transposition; 

•  emphasises the importance of attention being paid to implementation planning and 

enforcement mechanisms in the development of new legislation; 

•  draws attention to the variety of management and enforcement tools available to 
ensure the correct application of the law and commits itself to a transparent policy 
on the use of these instruments to produce the greatest understanding, clarity and 
effectiveness of the law; 

•  confirms  the  priorities  for  the  work  of  the  Commission  set  out  in  the 
accompanying document to this Report on the "Situation in the different sectors"9, 
including the management of infringement proceedings to maximise the benefits 
for citizens and business. 

9 

SEC(2009) 1684. 

EN 

10 

   EN