On 22 July 2011, the European Commission sent letters of formal notice to the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia and the UK because they had not yet informed the Commission whether they had put all national measures in place to fully implement the Mediation Directive. These countries have two months to respond to the Commission.The Commission's press release explains that if the Commission is not satisfied with the information and concludes that the Member State in question is failing to fulfil its obligations under EU law, the Commission may then send a formal request to comply with EU law, calling on the Member State to inform the Commission of the measures taken to comply within a specified period (usually two months). If a Member State fails to ensure compliance with EU law, the Commission may then decide to refer the Member State to the European Court of Justice.
The formal notice addressed to the UK related to Gibraltar, which had failed to put in place the necessary measures to implement the Mediation Directive by the deadline. However, such measures have now been implemented and the European Commission has been notified.
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