EU Initiates New Proceedings Against Austria: Delays in Payment Services and Drinking Water
The European Commission has initiated two further infringement proceedings against Austria and several other Member States. The reason for this is that Vienna is lagging in the correct implementation of EU directives in the areas of payment services and drinking water.
The European Union launched two further infringement proceedings against Austria and other Member States. / Picture: © Flickr / Dimitar Nikolov / [CC BY-SA 2.0(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)]
The proceedings concern amendments to the Directive on settlement finality and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), as well as the recast of the Drinking Water Directive. Austria and seven other EU countries are behind schedule in adapting the payment services directives.
More efficient payments required
The aim of the amendments to the Payment Services Directive is to ensure that non-bank payment service providers and e-money institutions can participate in payment systems on an equal and efficient basis. This should enable them to offer their customers competitive services such as instant payments.
Stricter standards for clean tap water
A second procedural item is the revision of the Drinking Water Directive. This aims to improve human health protection through updated water quality standards, the control of harmful pollutants (such as microplastics and certain chemicals), and regulations for cleaner tap water.
Member States should have transposed the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive into national law by January 12, 2023. Initial reports indicate that implementation in Austria is still inadequate, at least in part, with the Commission finding deficiencies in Carinthia, among other places, according to media reports, particularly in the implementation of regulations on risk assessment of the supply system.
Two months to remedy the deficiencies
In both cases, Austria now has two months to respond to the Commission's letters and remedy the deficiencies identified in the national implementation. If the necessary measures are not taken, the next formal step in the infringement procedure may be taken, which could lead to a referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).