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EN

C 2/2

Official Journal of the European Union
4.1.2023

This Communication reviews all Commission Communications on financial sanctions adopted from 1996 to 2021 see Annex II for the list. It replaces and subsumes their content, while updating them where necessary in the light of the most recent case-law of the Court. This is notably the case for the removal of any reference to the institutional weight of the Member State concerned in the calculation of the financial sanctions proposed by the Commission to the Court see section 3.4.
This Communication also applies in relation to the Euratom Treaty, insofar as its Article 106a makes Article 260
TFEU applicable to matters covered by that Treaty.

2.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Even though the final decision on the imposition of the sanctions laid down in Article 260 TFEU lies with the Court, the Commission plays a central role, as it brings the case before the Court with a proposal for the amount of the financial sanctions. In the interests of transparency and equal treatment, the Commission has consistently published the criteria it applies when proposing financial sanctions.
The Commission considers that the financial sanctions imposed should be based on three fundamental criteria 5:
the seriousness of the infringement, its duration, the need to ensure that the financial sanction itself is a deterrent to further infringements.
To ensure that sanctions are effective, it is important to set amounts that are sufficiently high to produce a deterrent effect. The imposition of purely symbolic sanctions would deprive the sanctioning mechanism of Article 260 TFEU, which is ancillary to the infringement procedure, of its useful effect and detracts from its ultimate objective, which is to ensure full compliance with Union law.
The sanctions proposed by the Commission to the Court should be consistent and foreseeable for the Member States and determined using a method that respects both the principle of proportionality and the principle of equal treatment among Member States. A clear and uniform method also ensures that the Commission properly justifies the calculation of the amount of the sanctions it proposes to the Court 6.
The Commission systematically proposes to the Court to impose both a lump sum and a penalty payment on the Member State concerned. That is the case for actions brought under Article 2602 TFEU non-compliance with a previous judgment of the Court as well as under Article 2603 TFEU non-communication of transposition measures for a legislative directive.
Accordingly, where a Member State rectifies the infringement during the Court proceedings, the Commission does not withdraw its action but maintains its claim to impose a lump sum, thereby covering the duration of the infringement until the time that the infringement was rectified. The Commission endeavours to inform the Court without delay whenever a Member State terminates an infringement, at whatever stage in the judicial process. It does the same, when, following a judgment delivered under Articles 2602 or 2603 TFEU, a Member State rectifies the situation and the obligation to pay a penalty thus comes to an end.
Financial sanctions paid by the Member States as ordered by the Court, whether in the form of lump sum or penalty payment, constitute other revenue of the Union, within the meaning of Article 311 TFEU and Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom 7.

5 The Court has approved the substance of these criteria in consistent case law. See, inter alia, judgment of 4 July 2000, Commission v Hellenic Republic C-387/97, EU:C:2000:356, paragraph 92; judgment of 25 February 2021, Commission v Spain C-658/19, EU:C:2021:138, paragraph 63; judgment of 16 July 2020, Commission v Ireland C-550/18, EU:C:2020:564, paragraph 81, judgment of 25 February 2021, Commission v Spain C-658/19, EU:C:2021:138, paragraph 73.
6 See judgment of 16 July 2020, Commission v Romania C-549/18, EU:C:2020:563, paragraph 51.
7 Council Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities own resources OJ L 163, 23.6.2007, p. 17.