European legislation

We have investigated the transposition and enforcement of European legislation in the Netherlands. We did so in response to signals that the EU member states (including the Netherlands) frequently failed to transpose European Directives into national legislation within the set time period. In addition, the member states must ensure that European Regulations are observed correctly. Regulations are EU laws that do not need to be transposed but are directly applicable in all member states and must be enforced. There is some uncertainty about the quality of enforcement in the Netherlands. We investigated how big the problems were, the possible causes and effects and what could be done.

Conclusions

There are shortcomings in the pace at which the Netherlands transposes European Directives into Dutch law and in the quality of its enforcement of European Regulations. The problem is gaining in urgency now that Brussels is keeping a closer eye on these matters. The Netherlands must therefore improve the way it transposes and enforces European legislation, comprising at present 1,678 Directives and some 7,800 Regulations. If we do not satisfy European requirements on, for example, foodstuffs and chemicals, there might be health and environmental consequences. The Netherlands might also face financial sanctions.

EU Directives. Over the years, the Netherlands has persistently been late in transposing European Directives into national laws and rules; for many decades, transposition was overdue in more than 50% of cases on average. Between 2002 and 2005, the length of the transposition deficit fell from 383 days on average to 142, but it increased again to an average of 162 days in 2006. The transposition deficit in some other member states, incidentally, is even worse.

There are several reasons for the deficit. Interestingly, when several ministries are involved in the transposition of a Directive there are significant delays in 80% of the cases. Attempts to improve the situation have so far had little effect. ICER-i, the government-wide working group that discusses the ministries' transposition obligations, has no power to take binding measures. The information that the House of Representatives receives about transposition deficits is inadequate. There was some improvement, however, at the beginning of 2008.

EU Regulations. Enforcement was properly organised for only a quarter of the EU Regulations studied. An enforcement body was often designated only after a Regulation had already come into force. Very few checks were made in advance to determine whether a Regulation could be enforced. It is more common not to have an enforcement plan than it is to have one. The more ministries and/or enforcement bodies that are involved in a Regulation, the worse the preparations seem to be.

In practice, there are many shortcomings in the enforcement of Regulations. The enforcement bodies often do not know what they are supposed to be supervising. Furthermore, breaches of Regulations in the Netherlands do not always lead to the imposition of sanctions, even though such tolerance is not permitted under European law. Adequate information on the extent to which Regulations are enforced and observed is not available -¬ neither at the enforcement bodies nor at the ministries concerned or the House of Representatives.

Recommendations

The transposition of Directives could be accelerated if the ministers concerned kept more strictly to the agreements already made, such as the rule on giving priority to European legislation above national legislation. We also made specific recommendations to tighten up supervision of the timely transposition of Directives and to improve accountability to the House. Regarding the enforcement of Regulations, we made specific recommendations to improve preparations, enforcement and the information provided on enforcement results.

Response of the Ministers

The Ministers concerned will continue to give priority to European legislation. The ministers also adopted many of our other recommendations, although not entirely convincingly in some cases. We think, for example, that the proposals to improve supervision of the transposition of Directives lack commitment. Moreover, the actions announced in response to our recommendations to improve the enforcement of Regulations are, in our opinion, not concrete enough.

Current status

The report was submitted to the House of Representatives on 17 June 2008.