Case C-446/25: Action brought on 7 July 2025 – European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria
Date: 2025-07-07
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: motor vehicle pollution, national implementing measure, polluter pays principle, road transport, sanction (EU), toll, transport infrastructure








C_202504587EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/4587


25.8.2025






Action brought on 7 July 2025 – European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria


(Case C-446/25)

(C/2025/4587)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: R. Álvarez Vinagre and V. Bozhilova)

Defendant: Republic of Bulgaria

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:






—


find that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2022/362 (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 2022 amending Directives 1999/62/EC, 1999/37/EC and (EU) 2019/520, as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, or, in any event, by failing to notify the Commission thereof, the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4 of the directive;










—


order the Republic of Bulgaria to pay to the Commission a daily lump sum of EUR 2 070,00, multiplied by the number of days between the day following the date of expiry of the deadline for transposing the directive in question and the date on which the infringement was brought to an end, or, where the infringement has not been brought to an end, the date of delivery of the judgment in the present case, with a minimum lump sum of EUR 481 000;










—


where the failure to fulfil obligations under the first indent persists until the date of delivery of the judgment in the present proceedings, order the Republic of Bulgaria to pay to the Commission a penalty payment of EUR 8 049,60 for each day from the date of delivery of the judgment in the present case until the date on which the Republic of Bulgaria has fulfilled its obligations under the directive, and










—


order the Republic of Bulgaria to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

Directive (EU) 2022/362 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 2022 amending Directives 1999/62/EC, 1999/37/EC and (EU) 2019/520, as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (‘the directive’), defines rules pursuant to which Member States may impose charges for the use of road infrastructure by certain vehicles.
In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 288 TFEU, a directive is to be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but is to leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods. Consequently, Member States are required to adopt the provisions necessary to transpose directives into their national laws within the time limits prescribed in those directives as well as immediately to notify the Commission of those provisions.
In accordance with Article 4(1) of the directive, Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the directive by 25 March 2024, and were to inform the Commission thereof.
On 23 May 2024, the Commission sent the Republic of Bulgaria a letter of formal notice. On 28 October 2024, the Commission sent the Republic of Bulgaria a reasoned opinion. Nevertheless, the Republic of Bulgaria has not transposed the directive into its national law yet and has not informed the Commission thereof.
Article 260(3) TFEU allows the Commission, when it brings a case before the Court pursuant to Article 258 on the grounds that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligation to notify measures transposing a directive adopted under a legislative procedure, to specify the amount of a ‘lump sum or penalty payment’ to be paid by that Member State.


(1)  
            OJ 2022 L 69, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/4587/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)