Two infringement procedures against Malta have been opened by the European Commission over alleged breaches of EU rules regarding waste management requirements and VAT rules for the special SMEs scheme.

The Commission also issued a reasoned opinion to Malta regarding the Renewable Energy Directive.

The European Commission decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to Malta for failing to comply with the Landfill Directive.

In a press statement announcing its October infringements package, the Commission said that the Landfill Directive sets standards for landfills to prevent adverse effects on human health, water, soil and air.

"Under this Directive, Member States must take measures to ensure that only waste that has been subject to treatment is landfilled. This should include, as a minimum, an adequate selection of the different waste streams and the pre-treatment of the organic fraction of waste."

Regarding Malta, landfilled waste at certain sites is not subject to an adequate selection of waste streams prior to landfilling. "Annual municipal waste generated per capita was higher in Malta than in most EU countries, and landfilling is still the predominant waste treatment option with a low recycling rate."

Malta now has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue reasoned opinions. 

Regarding new EU VAT rules for the special SMEs scheme, the Commission said it decided to launch infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to Malta for not providing all IT functionalities necessary to ensure the exchange of information between Member States, in line with the modifications introduced by a directive on the special scheme for small enterprises.

"The directive allows small enterprises to sell goods and services without charging VAT and alleviates their VAT compliance obligations. Moreover, small enterprises established in another Member State than where VAT is due may exempt their supplies from VAT in the same way as domestically established small enterprises can in their respective Member State. IT systems should permit the exchange of information between Member States as from 1 January 2025 in order to allow for the correct operation of the SMEs special scheme at EU level."

"According to the information available to the Commission, the Belgian, French and Maltese IT systems do not currently provide for all required functionalities."

Malta also has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission.

As for the Reasoned Opinion, this was issued for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised Renewable Energy Directive related to the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures, the Commission said.

The amending Directive entered into force in November 2023 and certain provisions had to be transposed into national law by 1 July 2024, the Commission said. "These provisions include measures to simplify and accelerate permitting procedures both for renewable energy projects and the infrastructure projects necessary to integrate the additional capacity into the electricity system."

They also set clear time limits for permit-granting procedures targeted at specific technologies or types of projects, strengthen the role of the single contact point for applications and establish the presumption that renewable energy projects and related grid infrastructure are of overriding public interest, it said.

In September 2024, the Commission sent letters of formal notice to 26 Member States for failing to fully transpose the Directive into national law, it said. "After examining the transposition measures notified by Malta and Slovakia, the Commission concluded that Malta has not yet fully transposed the Directive and Slovakia has not yet provided clear and precise information on how it has transposed the Directive. The Commission is therefore sending a reasoned opinion to Malta and an additional reasoned opinion to Slovakia, which now have two months to respond and complete the transposition. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union with a request to impose financial sanctions.