The European Commission called on Bulgaria, Cyprus and six other member states to transpose the electricity and gas directives of the Third Energy Package to their national laws.
As to date, Bulgaria and Cyprus, along with Romania, Spain, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Slovakia have not taken any transposition measures for the two directives, while Estonia has not done so as regards to the gas directive, the Commission said in a statement published on its website on Monday.
The eight countries have now two months to comply with their legal obligation. If they fail to comply the Commission may refer them to the Court of Justice.
The EU legislation, which had to be transposed by the member states by March 3, 2011, provisions new rules on unbundling of networks, strengthening the independence and the powers of national regulators and improving the retail markets functioning to the benefit of consumers. It stipulates the forming of internal energy markets by 2014.