The European Commission has formally requested Malta to ensure full compliance with their obligations under EU legislation on energy efficiency in buildings (Directive 2010/31/EU).
The directive had to be transposed into national law by 9 July 2012. To date Malta did not fully transpose EU Provisions into national law. The Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Malta asking it to notify the Commission of all necessary implementing measures.
If the Member States do not comply with their legal obligation within two months, the Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice. Under this directive Member States must establish and apply minimum energy performance requirements for buildings; ensure that the building’s energy performance is certified and carry out regular inspections of heating and air conditioning systems.
In addition, the directive requires Member States to ensure that from 2021 onwards all new buildings will be so-called nearly zero-energy buildings. In September 2012 the Commission started infringement procedures against 24 Member States (all except Denmark, Ireland and Sweden) that had not notified the Commission of national measures transposing the directive into national law.
Reasoned opinions were already sent to Italy, Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria in January 2013, to Spain and Slovenia in April 2013, to Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Latvia, Poland and the Netherlands in June 2013 and to Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary and the United Kingdom in September 2013 and to the Czech Republic and Romania in October