The European Commission has decided to refer Spain and Malta to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to transpose the Delegated Directive as regards the adjustments of the size criteria for micro, small, medium-sized and large undertakings or groups.

"This Directive aims to update and adapt the criteria to determine the company's size in the Accounting Directive to the impact of inflation since 2013. This ensures that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are not being made subject to undue EU financial and sustainability reporting provisions applicable to larger companies and is key to further reducing administrative burden," the European Commission said in a statement.

Member States were required to transpose this Directive in full by 24 December 2024. To date, most EU Member States have declared complete transposition of the Directive. However, national implementing measures have still not been notified by Spain and Malta.

"The Commission sent letters of formal notice to these Member States on 31 January 2025 and subsequently reasoned opinions on 17 July 2025. The Commission considers that efforts by the national authorities of these Member States have, to date, been insufficient since they have still not notified the Commission of the full transposition of the Directive into their national laws. Therefore, the Commission has decided to refer these cases to the Court of Justice of the EU."

The European Commission's decision was mentioned in its January infringement package.

In the infringement package, the Commission also said it opened infringement procedures against Malta for failing to fully implement a number of directives, and sent letters of formal notice.

Among other things, the Commission said it decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to 21 Member States (including Malta) for failing to communicate complete transposition of the Directive on financial services contracts concluded at a distance. It also decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to 23 Member States (including Malta) for failing to communicate complete transposition of the Directive on credit agreements for consumers.

The European Commission also decided to send a letter of formal notice to 12 Member States - including Malta - for failing to fully transpose a Directive amending the Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation.

Letters of formal notice were sent to Malta over failing to fully transpose four other Directives.