Often referred to as ‘Guardian of the Treaties’, one of the core missions of the European Commission is to enforce EU law. If in the course of its own investigations or as a result of complaints, it identifies a breach of EU law by an EU country (non-compliance with Treaty Provisions, EU Regulations and Directives), the European Commission can launch an ‘Infringement Procedure’.

The infringement procedure is a prelitigation tool that allows EU countries to remedy the situation voluntarily. It starts by a request of information (letter of formal notice) and continues with a formal request to comply with EU law (reasoned opinion). If this phase fails, the European Commission can start judicial proceedings by referring the EU country to the European Court of Justice. If the violation continues after a Court Decision, the Commission may even ask the Court to impose financial penalties to the country concerned (more information of infringement procedures).

In practice, Infringement Procedures are mostly launched during the transposition of Directives. In such case, they can be initiated for non-communication of transposition measures, incorrect transposition and incorrect application.

However, even when a potential breach of EU is detected, the European Commission is not obliged to launch an infringement procedure. If it finds it appropriate, it can also make use of a pre-infringement process called EU Pilot. The EU Pilot is an online tool that allows for informal confidential dialogue between the European Commission and the Member States concerned without the need to launch an infringement procedure. This tool can be useful to deal with technical matters.

• Any individual or organisation that believes that an EU law has been breached by a National Authority can contact the European Commission either digitally or physically. This is the link to submit an online complaint to the commission and this is the link to the physical complaint form that you can send to the commission by traditional post. You can send the physical form to the European Commission Secretary General in Brussels or the EU Commission office in your country (more information on how to contact the commission)
• Remember, the European Commission will only process the complaint if the breach of EU law is done by a public authority in an EU country (not private individuals, companies or bodies). Even if a breach is detected, the European Commission is not obliged to launch and infringement procedure.
• In order to know what obligations apply to the authorities of your Member State you can use the toolkits that EDF has prepared on different pieces of EU legislation. In case of doubt, you can always check the legislation directly or contact the EDF secretariat.
• If you raise a complaint to the European Commission, it is useful to inform EDF secretariat. This will not only help understand the number of complaints raised and on what topics, but also will allow EDF staff to refer to them when meeting European Commission officials.

If the infringement procedures do not work, the Commission can refer the Member State to the European Court of Justice

• European Accessibility Act: On June 2023, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion (request to comply) to Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, The Netherlands and Poland for failing to notify transposing measures of the Act by the deadline (June 2022). If these Member States do not comply, the European Commission could refer them to the European Court of Justice (more information on the Accessibility Act Infringement Procedure).
• Passenger Rights: On February 2015, the European Commission referred Austria to the European Court of Justice for failing to comply with its obligations under Regulation 181/2011 on Bus and Coach Passenger Rights. Among others, Vienna failed to designate the terminal where passengers with disabilities can receive assistance. The decision came after Austria had failed to implement such measures on time and reply to the letters of formal notice (request for information) and reasoned opinion (request to comply). The case was closed on September 2015 after Austria designated a bus terminal to assist persons with disabilities (more information on the Passenger Rights Infringement Procedure).
• Emergency Communications: in 2019, the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI) sent a Report to the European Commission asking to launch an infringement procedure against Spain for failing to ensure the accessibility of the emergency number 112, as required by the Universal Service Directive – later repealed by the European Electronic Communications Code (more information on the Emergency Communications infringement procedure). On July 2019, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure against Spain, which was closed in April 2020