The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has mandated that Bulgaria pay a lump sum penalty of EUR 1.9 million for its failure to transpose the European Electronic Tolling Service (EETS) Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/520) into national law by the stipulated deadline of October 19, 2021. The CJEU determined that Bulgaria did not meet its obligations under the directive, specifically failing to adopt and notify the necessary measures to incorporate the law into its domestic legislation on time. This European directive is designed to ensure the interoperability of electronic road toll systems across the European Union and to streamline the cross-border exchange of information concerning unpaid road charges.
Although Bulgarian authorities eventually adopted and completed parts of the required legislation, the CJEU upheld the request for a lump sum penalty while withdrawing the request for ongoing periodic payments. The court specifically rejected arguments presented by Bulgaria concerning political instability or the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The judgment emphasized that, according to established case law, a Member State cannot use internal difficulties to justify non-compliance with its obligations under EU law.
The CJEU noted that invoking force majeure requires extraordinary and unforeseeable circumstances that were not established in this case. With this judgment, the CJEU imposed the financial penalty on Bulgaria, underscoring the necessity for Member States to adhere strictly to the implementation timelines set by European legislation.
Topics: #directive #bulgaria #european
