European Commission Launches Five Infringement Procedures Against Bulgaria.

The Commission is calling on Bulgaria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia to comply with personal data protection rules. The EC is sending letters of formal notice, stating that the listed countries have incorrectly transposed European rules in this area.

The EC also called on Bulgaria, Belgium and Cyprus to complete the implementation of rules on data exchange within the framework of administrative cooperation in taxation.

According to the Commission, EU rules require member states to standardise the collection of the top-up tax return and automatically exchange the collected information.

The top-up tax return is part of the obligations to ensure a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large domestic groups in the EU, the Commission explained.

Bulgaria and Poland are still not properly applying EU rules on the marketing and use of explosives precursors.

The Commission also states that obstacles remain in some countries to the installation of equipment for generating renewable energy.

The EC opened infringement procedures against Bulgaria, Czechia, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia over restrictive mandatory authorisation or certification schemes for installation and construction services related to energy.

The Commission gives a two-month deadline for a response, after which it will decide whether to continue the procedures. The affected countries may submit opinions within that period, and the EC will then assess whether to bring cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union with requests for financial sanctions.

Tax authorities in the EU should be able to begin exchanging information on multinational companies from June this year.