The European Commission decided on Wednesday to send additional reasoned opinions to Romania, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia for failing to fully transpose EU regulations on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, set out in EU Directive 2018/2001, according to a statement from the European Commission.
The directive provides the legal framework for the development of renewable energy in the EU in electricity, heating and cooling, and transport. It sets out the EU’s binding 2030 targets for renewable energy and includes specific regulations for guarantees of origin (GOs). These are electronic certificates through which end customers are informed of the share of energy from renewable sources in their supply mix, according to Agerpres.
The directive includes the saving criteria for the sustainability and greenhouse gas emission targets for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass, and the regulations for verifying the fulfilment of these criteria. The deadline for transposing the Directive into national law was 30 June 2021. In July 2021, the European Commission sent letters of formal notice to these four EU Member States for failing to fully transpose the Directive. The EU Executive then sent them reasoned opinions for incomplete transposition.
The States now have two months to respond to the EC’s requests. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the EU Executive may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).