Gelijke behandeling mannen en vrouwen: Italië e op de vingers getikt, zaak in Luxemburg gesloten (en)
Brussels, 28 January 2010
The Commission has today sent reasoned opinions to Italy and the United Kingdom for non-communication of national legislation to implement EU rules prohibiting gender discrimination in employment and occupation (2006/54/EC). It has also decided to close the infringement proceeding on the same Directive against Luxembourg after the country communicated to the Commission its legislation transposing the Directive.
Vladimír Špidla, EU Commissioner for Equal Opportunities, said: "This Directive is crucial to tackling gender discrimination, an important goal of the European Union. EU directives cannot reach their full potential if they are not, in the first place, fully and correctly transposed into national laws. I am happy to see that Luxembourg has fulfilled its obligation to communicate the national legislation transposing the Directive and I hope that Italy and the UK will do so soon."
Today, Italy and the United Kingdom have received reasoned opinions for non-communication of national measures transposing Directive 2006/54/EC.
In the case of Italy, the government failed to communicate in time legislation transposing the Directive in that Member State.
The reasoned opinion sent to the United Kingdom concerns the lack of communication of legislation transposing the Directive as regards Gibraltar.
The Commission has also decided to close the infringement proceeding open for non-communication of national measures by Luxembourg after being notified of the measures taken by the Luxembourg authorities to transpose the Directive.
Background
Infringement procedures consist of three steps. The first step is that the Member State receives a letter of formal notice and has two months to respond. In case further compliance with EU legislation is needed, the Commission sends a reasoned opinion. Again the Member State has two months to reply. If there is no satisfactory reply, the Commission can refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg.
Further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=420&langId=en
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