Czechia lags on energy legislation as European Commission issues ultimatum

The European Commission has for the second time called on Czechia to transpose European Directive 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market in electricity. The deadline for transposition expired at the end of 2020. This is already the second warning Czechia has received from the European Commission on this matter. Czechia now has two months to remedy the situation. If it fails to do so, the European Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The Czech Republic is falling behind in transposing key energy legislation, specifically Directive 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market in electricity. The directive is a pillar for setting up the electricity market in the European Union. The Czech Republic has essentially had since June 2019, when the directive was adopted, to transpose it; however, in the European Commission's view, it has still not been transposed correctly. The directive should have been fully incorporated into Czech law by the end of 2020.