European Commission

Every two months, the Commission verifies the measures taken by the authorities in each Member State to incorporate EU directives into their law. EU directives are a form of EU legislation which contains deadlines for the implementation ("transposition") of the rights and obligations in the directive into the law of the Member States. Implementation into the law of the Member States fulfils the purpose of ensuring the full availability of those rights and obligations to citizens and enterprises.

If the Commission finds that a Member State has failed to notify a measure implementing a directive, it opens an infringement case for 'non-communication'. The Commission publishes information on the number of notifications received from each Member State incorporating EU directives into their law.

The letter of formal notice is the first stage in the pre-litigation procedure, during which the Commission requests a Member State to submit its observations within a given time limit on an identified problem regarding the application of Community law. The 'reasoned opinion' constitutes the second stage in the procedure, before referral of the case to the European Court of Justice for a ruling;

Graphs are provided presenting information on the total numbers of letters of formal notice sent, organised by Member State and by policy area. The table of the current year is updated every 2 months:

Letters of formal notice sent for "non-communication"
By Member State	By sector
2011	2011
2010	2010
2009	2009
2008	2008
2007	2007
2006	2006
2005	2005

The tables below contain percentages of notifications made by Member States compared with the total number of notifications due from that Member State. The tables indicate the state of play from 2000 to 2009. They show the work done by Member States in communicating national measures implementing directives. All the notifications officially received by the Secretariat-General of European Commission are included in the calculation.