Reporting period:
This page provides statistics on the implementation of Single Market directives and considers all transposition notifications made by 5 December 2024 for directives with a transposition deadline on or before 30 November 2024. As of that date, 1000 directives were in force to ensure the functioning of the Single Market. All comparisons are with the figures for 5 December 2023, the previous reporting date.
Transposition and the Single Market – why does it matter?
Single Market legislation can only achieve its intended effects if all the obligations under the relevant directives are implemented in Member States’ national law on time (within the set deadlines), completely and correctly.
The Commission always launches infringement proceedings to tackle late or wrong transposition. It may also initiate proceedings to deal with rules that are badly applied, for instance, when there is a systemic breach of EU law. Infringement proceedings start when the Commission sends a letter of formal notice to the Member State concerned. However, only the Court can rule definitively that a breach of EU law has occurred.
Monitoring transposition helps make the Single Market work by ensuring that Member States implement its rules properly.
Such monitoring shows the transposition deficit (the gap between the number of Single Market directives adopted by the EU and the number of those transposed by each Member State) and the conformity deficit (the percentage of those directives incorrectly transposed). It highlights what Member States are doing to ensure that Single Market law is implemented correctly and, by doing so, encourages them to improve their performance.
Recent developments
Enrico Letta’s Much More Than A Market high-level report (the Letta Report), published on 17 April 2024, and Mario Draghi’s report on the future of European competitiveness (the Draghi Report), published on 9 September 2024, proposed plans to strengthen European productivity. Both reports stressed that fully implementing Single Market rules is crucial for a successful industrial policy and stronger economic growth.
Along these lines, President von der Leyen has entrusted Executive Vice-President Séjourné with the task of ensuring full implementation of these rules and speeding up the removal of barriers.
With the same objective of ensuring timely and full implementation of EU legislation, the Commission published the stocktaking report on 14 July 2023. The report focused on the swift transposition of directives and the Commission’s support to Member States to better anticipate implementation challenges and improve transposition planning and guidance. Throughout 2024, the Commission worked on these issues, in close collaboration with the Member States.
Key messages
- On transposing Single Market directives (all indicators combined), 18 Member States now have an average or above-average performance, down from 23. Although 4 Member States have improved on their December 2023 overall performance, the situation has deteriorated for 11 others. Overall, the situation has worsened, in comparison to the previous year.
- The Single Market transposition deficit stayed on track (0.8%, up from 0.7% last year), with 22 Member States in line with the European Council’s target to not exceed 1%. At 0.9%, the Single Market conformity deficit has fallen below the symbolic 1% threshold, for the first time since December 2018. Latvia managed to achieve the perfect score (0%).
- Transposing directives within the deadline is just one aspect of full implementation. Directives also need to be transposed correctly and applied correctly on the ground. 4 Member States (Bulgaria, Spain, Austria and Poland) combine both a high transposition and a high conformity deficit.
- Transposition delays of Single Market directives decreased in most Member States. Outstanding directives are now 11.9 months late on average (down from 18.3 months a year ago). This substantial decrease is mainly due to 17 Member States reducing their number of long-overdue directives. Hungary and Malta saw the biggest decrease in transposition delays, thanks to transposing 2 long-overdue directives that weighed on their average delay last year.
- The indicative target to either close cases on non-communication of transposition measures or refer them to the Court of Justice is 12 months. In December 2024, the average duration of non-communication cases related to Single Market directives was 18 months. When Member States fail to ensure timely notifications, the Commission launches infringement proceedings without delay. However, once the transposition is complete, the infringement case should be closed promptly.
- 41 out of the 1 000 Single Market directives due to be transposed by 30 November 2024 have not been transposed in at least one Member State.This means that the Single Market’s legal framework runs at 96% of its potential.
Overall performance
Map legend
A Member State’s performance across all transposition indicators is calculated by scoring each of the 6 indicators listed in the Performance indicators table below as follows:
RED = -1, YELLOW = 0 and GREEN = +1.
The colours on the map represent the sum of these scores:
- green: 2 or higher = above average
- yellow: -1, 0 or 1 = average
- red: -2 or lower = below average
- The results are worse than last year. Only 4 Member States managed to improve their overall performance (Germany, Hungary, Malta and Romania) against 8 in 2023, and the situation deteriorated for 11 of them (against 6 in 2023).
- All Member States with a green card met the 1% Single Market transposition deficit target set at the March 2007 European Council. They also had a better-than-average Single Market conformity deficit.
- As for the 9 red cards, Bulgaria, Spain, Austria and Poland had a Single Market transposition deficit above the 1% threshold, while the 5 other Member States were at 1% or less. The Single Market conformity deficit in 7 of these 9 Member States was worse than the EU average (Greece was better than average and Croatia was equal to it).
Performance indicators
Indicator values | green | yellow | red |
---|---|---|---|
[1] Single Market transposition deficit → Target set at the European Council, Brussels 8-9 March 2007 | ≤ 1% | / | > 1% |
[2] Change over the last 12 months (change in the number of outstanding Single Market directives) | decrease | no change | increase |
[3] Number of long-overdue Single Market directives (2 years or more) → Target set at the European Council, Barcelona 15-16 March 2002 | 0 | / | > 0 |
[4] Transposition delay for overdue Single Market directives (in months) [5] Single Market conformity deficit | < average -10% | average ±10% | > average +10% |
[6] Duration of infringement proceedings for late transposition of Single Market directives (in months) | ≤ 12 months | > 12 months ≤ 18 months | > 18 months |
This table combines the most relevant indicators to provide a better overview of Member States’ compliance in transposing the Single Market directives. The table shows that a good result on the transposition deficit – which is seen as a key indicator – does not necessarily reflect the overall performance. This is particularly the case for the Netherlands, which has a good transposition deficit (0.9%) but performs below the EU average for all other indicators.
Indicator [1]: Single Market transposition deficit
The average EU transposition deficit of Single Market directives stayed on track, at 0.8%. The deterioration observed since the COVID-19 outbreak is now in the past (see also Changes in the average transposition deficit chart in the Trends section).
Detailed comments
- 22 Member States are in line with the 1% target, compared to 23 last year. Luxembourg and Austria joined Bulgaria, Poland and Spain in the group of Member States that are above the target. Belgium passed over this group and met the 1% target for the first time in 5 years.
- The goal is still that Member States transpose all Single Market directives by the agreed deadlines. Transposition is an ongoing process and any let-up can result in a quick rise in the deficit. This year’s deficit (0.8%) is slightly above last year’s deficit (0.7%), not so far from the 1% threshold. 9 Member States were close to reaching the 1% threshold and should refocus their attention on not exceeding it next year.
Indicator [2]: Change over the last 12 months (change in the number of outstanding Single Market directives)
Even though the Single Market transposition deficit was satisfactory overall, half of the Member States have a larger backlog than last year.
Detailed comments
- Compared to a year ago, 13 Member States reduced or equalled their number of outstanding Single Market directives (down from 24), while the number rose in 14 Member States (down from 3). An average of 1 directive was added to the backlog in 2024 (against an average of 3 directives removed in 2023).
- Denmark and Malta reversed the negative trend of the previous year and reduced their number of outstanding Single Market directives. Belgium continued its dramatic progress: it has reduced its backlog of overdue directives by 64% in 4 years and has lowered its a deficit of 2.8% in December 2021 to 1% today.
- Luxembourg and Austria added a small number of directives to their backlog (+2) but this has been enough to stop them reaching the threshold this year.
Indicator [3]: Long-overdue Single Market directives (2 years or more)
Long transposition delays seriously impair the proper functioning of the Single Market. The longer the delay, the less legal security there is and the more serious the consequences are for people and businesses. This is why the European Council, meeting in Barcelona in March 2002, set a target of “zero-tolerance” for delays of 2 years or more in transposing directives.
Fewer directives and Member States are concerned, compared to last year.
Detailed comments
18 Member States have long-overdue Single Market directives (down from 25 last year) and 19 long-overdue directives have not been fully notified (down from 20). Currently, 9 Member States meet the zero-tolerance target compared to only 2 in December 2023.
Indicator [4]: Total transposition delays for overdue Single Market directives
Member States could better anticipate difficulties at an early stage of a directive’s transposition. They should already start planning before the directive is formally adopted. Some of the recommendations included in the stocktaking report published by the Commission on 14 July 2023 aim to increase and optimise the Commission’s support to Member States in this respect.
Transposition delays of Single Market directives decreased in most Member States. Outstanding directives are now 11.9 months late on average (down from 18.3 months a year ago).
Detailed comments
- Only 4 Member States saw an increase in their average delay (down from 23 in December 2023). The increase stayed moderate: from 0.3 months for Bulgaria to 2.5 months for Croatia. Greece is still the Member State with the highest average delay, but it had the 3rd sharpest decrease this year (of 18.8 months).
- The 2 Member States with the biggest decrease in the transposition delay are Hungary (–25.2 months) and Malta (–21.6 months). Both Member States have now transposed the 2 long-overdue Single Market directives that weighed on their average delay last year.
Indicator [5]: Single Market conformity deficit (incorrectly transposed directives)
This indicator was set in the April 2011 Single Market Act, with a proposed threshold of 0.5%. The March 2023 Communication The Single Market at 30 confirmed this threshold. It is also one of the agreed key performance indicators (KPIs) identified in the March 2023 Communication Long-term competitiveness of the EU looking beyond 2030 – the indicator is the second one in the “A Functioning Single Market” driver).
NB – Only the Court of Justice can rule definitively that a directive has not been transposed correctly, and the Commission is still working on the conformity assessment of several notified national measures. This should be kept in mind when interpreting the conformity deficit statistics.
The improvement that started last year is gaining momentum. The average conformity deficit of Single Market directives has fallen below the symbolic 1% threshold, for the first time since December 2018.
Detailed comments
- 20 Member States reduced their deficit by between 0.1 (Spain, France and Portugal) and 1.0 percentage points (Romania). 7 Member States even met the conformity deficit target of 0.5% or less, up from 3 in December 2023 and 0 between 2019 and 2022. Latvia achieved the perfect score.
- 5 Member States saw an increase in their deficit by between 0.1 and 0.7 percentage points: Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Malta and Austria. At 3% , its worst ever result, Hungary is still the Member State with the highest conformity deficit. It is followed by Austria and Italy, which have replaced Czechia and Germany in the 3 Member States in the bottom of the ranking.
- There is still a high number of ongoing infringement cases that need to be resolved (192 cases on 80 different Single Market directives). Nevertheless, there has been progress compared to previous years (253 cases in 2023 and 292 cases in 2022).
- 4 Member States (Bulgaria, Spain, Austria and Poland) combine a high Single Market transposition deficit with a high percentage of incorrectly transposed Single Market directives. Improving the cooperative mechanisms and procedures supporting Member States should hopefully result in improved compliance.
Indicator [6]: Duration of infringement proceedings for late transposition of Single Market directives
The Commission and the Member States both have the responsibility to speed up the handling of infringement cases. While Member States have to ensure timely notifications, if they do not, the Commission launches infringement proceedings without delay. However, once the transposition is complete, the infringement case should be closed promptly.
The average duration of non-communication proceedings for Single Market directives is above the 12-month indicative target.
Detailed comments
- Like last year, the average duration of proceedings for the late transposition of Single Market directives is 50% longer than the 12-month indicative target (18 months). The national average durations varies significantly from one Member State to another. Only Slovenian cases met the target. At the other end of the scale, the duration of French cases are double the target.
- The number of cases open for non-communication of Single Market directives also varies among Member States. The average is 18, ranging from 9 cases for Sweden to 32 for Poland.
EEA EFTA countries
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are also subject to Single Market rules under the EEA Agreement. They are monitored by the EFTA Surveillance Authority.
However, there is a time lag between the adoption or repeal of a legal act in the EU and its addition to or removal from the EEA Agreement. This means that the body of EU law that applies in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway may differ from that which is in force in the EU. On 1 December 2024, 807 directives and 4603 regulations were in force to ensure the functioning of the Single Market in the EEA. This should be considered when comparing the Single Market Scoreboard with the EEA Scoreboard.
Average deficit (all 3 countries): 1.3% (up from 0.8% in December 2023) – All 3 EEA EFTA countries exceed the proposed 0.5% target.
- Iceland: 2.1% (up from 1.6%)
- Norway: 1.2% (up from 0.8%)
- Liechtenstein: 0.6% (up from 0.1%)
Total number of late directives: 32 (up from 20 in December 2023)
- Iceland: 17 (up from 13)
- Norway: 10 (up from 6)
- Liechtenstein: 5 (up from 1)
“Zero-tolerance target”: in total the EEA EFTA States have 6 directives that have been outstanding for 2 or more years (2 for Norway and 4 for Iceland).
Average delay in transposing directives: 14 months (up from 11.8 months in December 2023)
- Norway: 16.6 months (down from 21.2 months)
- Iceland: 15.9 months (up from 13.1 months)
- Liechtenstein: 9.6 months (up from 1 month)
Trends (in the EU)
Changes in the average Single Market transposition deficit
Following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU average transposition deficit of Single Market directives is again below 1%, at 0.8%. The proposed 0.5% target may once again drive further improvement as it did between 2011 and 2019.
Changes in the average Single Market conformity deficit
See more information in indicator [5]: Conformity deficit (incorrectly transposed directives)
The number of infringement proceedings for incorrect transposition of Single Market directives launched by the Commission has slightly decreased. 40 new cases were launched between 1 December 2023 and 30 November 2024, down from 46 the previous year. Nevertheless, these figures are significantly lower than in the past, compared to the 161 cases launched in 2019.
Fewer new cases combine with more closed cases (102 closed between 1 December 2023 and 30 November 2024 against 84 the previous year).
Changes in the Single Market incompleteness rate
The Single Market is incomplete when its rules are not applied or the rights derived from them cannot be exercised uniformly. When one or more Member States fail to transpose directives on time, they leave a void in the EU legal framework. Instead of the Single Market covering all Member States, it remains much smaller and fragmented. Consequently, the economic interests of all Member States suffer if just one Member State does not deliver.
41 out of 1000 Single Market directives due to be transposed by 30 November 2024 have not been transposed in at least one Member State (this was 46 out of 1001 directives in 2023). Although this is progress, the 4% incompleteness rate means that the Single Market’s legal framework is not operating at its full potential.
Policy areas with highest incompleteness rate
- Energy (including energy efficiency): 29% of directives (4 out of 14) not transposed by all Member States
- Financial information and company law: 26% (5 out of 19)
- Transport: 9% (11 out of 119)
- Financial services: 7% (5 out of 67)
- Social policy: 7% (7 out of 99)
Facts and figures
Single Market directives undergoing completeness checks
The graph below concerns Single Market directives that are the subject of an infringement procedure for non-communication. It shows the number of those directives whose transposition has been declared complete by each Member State and for which the Commission is examining whether the notification process is indeed complete. The outcome will be either a new formal step in the procedure or its closure. Concerning notifications made outside existing infringement proceedings, the verification process may result in the Commission taking the decision to open an infringement case. The directives concerned will then be included in the transposition deficit in the next edition of the Scoreboard.
The Commission is currently examining a very large number of notifications of national measures transposing Single Market directives.
Overdue Single Market directives by sector and Member State
This table shows, for each Member State, the total number of Single Market directives not fully notified, broken down by sector, as on 5 December 2024. Sectors in which directives have been fully transposed are included under “Others”. The highlighted figures show the sector(s) with the highest number of overdue directives in each Member State.
Member State | Competition (1) | Connectivity/media/digital society (20) | Consumers (19) | Energy incl. energy consumption (14) | Environment (189) | Financial information and company law (19) | Financial services (67) | Free movement of persons & citizenship of Union (24) | Plant health legislation (133) | Social policy (99) | Taxation (72) | Transport (119) | Other sectors (224) | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spain | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 18 | ||||
Poland | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 17 | ||||||
Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 16 | |||||
Luxembourg | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |||||
Austria | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |||||||
Belgium | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |||||||
Germany | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||||||
Portugal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||||||
Estonia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||
Croatia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||
Cyprus | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||||||
Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |||||||
Latvia | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
Romania | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |||||||
Czechia | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
Slovakia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
Denmark | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
Greece | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
France | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
Italy | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||
Hungary | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
Malta | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
Ireland | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||
Finland | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
Sweden | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
Lithuania | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Problematic sectors for Member States (at least 30% of all cases)
- Financial services – Portugal (40%)
- Energy – Croatia (33%)
- Social policy – Croatia (33%)
- Transport – Bulgaria (31%), the Netherlands (33%) and Belgium (30%)
Clearly, these percentages should be assessed in relation to the total number of overdue directives in each Member State (see “Total“ column).
Single Market directives for notification by the next Scoreboard
In addition to today’s transposition deficit, it is also important to look at new Single Market directives whose transposition deadline will expire between now and 30 November 2025.
Given the number of directives to be transposed in the coming 12 months and some particularly high backlogs, some Member States, such as Bulgaria, Spain and Poland, risk exceeding the 1% target if they do not take decisive and drastic action to speed up the process.