The European Commission is suing Spain and Poland for their failure to fully pass key parts of the Emissions Trading System into national law, according to a Commission notice filed Thursday morning.
Spain was referred twice to the Court of Justice of the European Union for its alleged transgressions defying ETS directives and Poland once. The first referral involves Spain not certifying aspects of greenhouse gas emissions allowances and another for failing to transpose new aviation emissions standards under the ETS. Poland was charged with failing to transpose the aviation standards.
“The revised rules strengthen and expand the EU ETS, increase emissions reductions across covered sectors,” said the EU executive in its media release on the legal proceedings. “The complete transposition of these Directives therefore ensures the proper functioning of EU ETS, avoiding distortions in the internal market.”
The Commission playing hardball with two member countries on their defiance of the ETS, comes on the heels of mounting criticism of the cap-and-trade regime from across the bloc in advance of a hotly-anticipated review scheduled for release in mid-July.
