The European Commission yesterday announced the launch of an infringement procedure against Luxembourg for its failure to transpose two directives under the 'asylum package'.
These two directives were Directive 2013/33/EU of 26 June 2013, regarding laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection; and Directive 2013/32/EU of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection.
The deadline for the transposition of these two directives was 21 July 2015.
EU directives require that Member States achieve a particular result whilst retaining a certain degree of leeway regarding the exact rules to be adopted under the directive.
Following the Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen case of 1963, the European Court of Justice established criteria of direct effect for unimplemented or badly implemented directives which may create legal action against the Member State in question.
