The European Commission said on Wednesday ithas asked Romania, Croatia and threeother member statesto ensure the full transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive.
Under this directive member states must achieve energy savingsfrom January 1, 2014 tillDecember 31, 2020by using Energy Efficiency Obligations Schemes and/or other targeted policy measures to drive energy efficiency improvements in households, industry and transport sectors, the Commission said in a statement.
Under the Energy Efficiency Obligations Schemes, companies have to take measures to ensure energy savings at final customer level, for example by giving advice on installing better insulation or offering grants for replacing old energy-wasting windows. The directive had to be transposed into national law by June 5, 2014.
The Commission sent reasoned opinions to these five member states on Wednesday,asking them to fully transpose the directive into national law.If theydo not comply with this obligation within two months, the Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice of the EU and ask for financial penalties.
During the second halfof 2014, the Commission launched infringement procedures for non-transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive against all EU member states,except Malta.