The European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority (ESA) has decided to file six cases against Iceland in EFTA court, for “the failure to implement a number of EEA acts.”
A statement from ESA president Oda Helen Sletnes prefaced the announcement, saying, “We regret having to take such a number of cases to the court, as Iceland has failed to take satisfactory measures to avoid this. Timely implementation of common EEA rules is essential to Iceland’s participation in the Internal Market, and the current situation is worrying.”
The ESA argues furthermore that Iceland has received many warnings, and that “[l]odging a case at the EFTA Court is the last step in a formal infringement procedure against an EFTA State. Prior to this, Iceland has been informed about the Authority’s view and has had a chance to bring forward its arguments as well as to settle the case by complying within the applicable deadline.”
The six directives which Iceland failed to implement pertain to starting tolls on heavy goods vehicles, a system for identifying and tracing explosives, a classification system for fireworks, the implementation of international standards regarding pollution from ships, better management of waste disposal management, and the improvement of consultation services for employees to know what their rights are.
All of these directives were supposed to have been implemented by November 2012, with the exception of the directive on heavy vehicle tolls, which should have been implemented in July 2012.
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