In
European Union law, transposition is a process by which the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's member states give force to a
directive by passing appropriate implementation measures. Transposition is typically done by either
primary legislation or
secondary legislation
Secondary may refer to: Science and nature
* Secondary emission, of particles
** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products
* The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding ...
.
The
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
closely monitors that transposition is timely, correctly done and implemented, so as to attain the results intended. Incorrect transposition may be the result of non acting (leaving aside certain provisions), diverging (other scope, definition or requirement), "
gold-plating" (exceeding the requirements of the directive), "double-banking" (overlapping between existing national laws and the transposed directive), or "regulatory creep" (overzealous enforcement or a state of uncertainty in the status of the regulation).
The European Commission may bring a case in the
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...
against states which have not transposed directives adequately.
Additionally, any individual or business in a Member State may lodge a complaint with the Commission about the incorrect or delayed transposition of an EU directive or "for any measure (law, regulation or administrative action) or practice attributable to a Member State which they consider incompatible with a provision or a principle of EU law".
The Commission publishes an annual report summarising how EU law has been transposed, with statistics on the numbers and types of infringements, per country and sector.
References
European Union constitutional law
{{EU-law-stub