Lithuania's membership in the EU
Coordination of EU Affairs in Lithuania
Implementation of EU Law in Lithuania
Implementation of European Union Law in Lithuania
The European Union can function effectively only if all member states unconditionally abide by common rules. The drafting, co-ordination and adjustment of these rules, i.e. EU legal acts, is quite a lengthy and complicated procedure. All the member states have an opportunity to express their opinion and defend their national interests. Once a compromise has been reached and a legal act adopted, every EU country has to ensure its domestic enforceability. The type of a legal act (regulation, directive or decision) determines the nature of its operation and further actions required from a member state.
The system of EU law implementation in Lithuania
Considering the scope of EU legislation (more than 100 directives and about 2000 regulations and decisions adopted annually) and the fact that most of EU legislation fall within the competence of several Lithuanian institutions, adequate coordination of EU law transfer and implementation process becomes vital. The system of transposition and implementation of EU law, developed in Lithuania (see the chart), is characterised by a detailed regulation of procedures, clear differentiation of inter-institutional responsibilities and a flexible mechanism for problem-solving.
Institutional responsibility
The implementation of EU law falls within the competence of respective ministries and other state institutions as well as other agencies (about 40 state institutions take part in this process). Specialists working in these institutions draft laws, Government’s decisions or Ministers’ orders transposing and implementing directives and other EU acts and undertake other measures helping to ensure a proper functioning of EU legislation in Lithuania.
The Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania coordinates the EU law transposition and implementation process, namely, creates and develops the entire EU law implementation system in Lithuania, ensures the planning of the tasks and the observance of deadlines, deals with arising problems, lends methodological assistance to other institutions etc. The Department of Co-ordination and Monitoring of European Law Implementation is responsible for these tasks on behalf of the Office of the Government.
The European Law Department under the Ministry of Justice provides expert conclusions on the conformity of the national law to the EU law and represents Lithuania in the European Court of Justice.
Planning of EU law transposition and implementation
The transposition or implementation of every newly adopted EU legal act is assigned to a responsible Lithuanian institution which further engages in the planning, preparation, adoption and implementation of necessary measures. Often, efforts of several institutions are required.
Within 3 weeks from the assignment, responsible institutions have to submit concrete programmes for the transposition and implementation of this act to the Office of the Government. As a result, a common national programme for the transposition and implementation of EU law is prepared and constantly updated. The programme specifies the dates for the preparation and adoption of relevant Lithuanian laws.
This plan and news on its implementation are presented and discussed in the meetings of the Ministries’ State Secretaries on monthly basis. Arising problems are addressed in special meetings organized in the Office of the Government, while the most difficult questions are included into the agenda of the Government’s Strategic Planning Committee or Government’s meetings. Questions related to the preparation and adoption of the laws implementing the provisions of EU law are discussed every month in the meetings of the Seimas Committee on European affairs.
Thus, every year, Lithuanian institutions transpose over 100 directives into the national law, and implement over 2000 regulations and decisions. For this purpose, about 50 laws, 30 Government’s regulations and 200 legal acts on the level of Minister’s orders are adopted annually. All these tasks are accomplished by using the LINESIS information system (see „Preparation of Lithuanian positions“).
Notification of the directives
An EU member state, having transferred an EU directive into the national law, is obliged to notify the European Commission, by providing the texts of the respective national laws. The notification procedure, coordinated by the Office of the Lithuanian Government, is currently performed by using special Europe information system.
If a member state does not transpose or implement the provisions of a certain directive or any other EU legal act in the national law by the date indicated in the act or does it only in part or inadequately, the European Commission may initiate the so-called EU law infringement procedure (Art. 226 of the EC founding treaty).
Information on the recent infringement procedures initiated against member states
SOLVIT
Enterprises and citizens facing groundless restrictions in the field of the internal market (that is inadequate implementation of EU law) can solve specific problems by using the SOLVIT network. Complaints submitted in the electronic form through this network involving all member states are forwarded to the responsible institutions of respective states and solution is sought collectively.
Results
European Commission continuously monitors the implementation of EU law by member states. The following links to the Commission websites provide recent respective information on Lithuania compared to other member states.
Every two months the European Commission publishes the results of the notification of the directives.
Review of the EU law implementation in the field of the Common market
Where to find EU law documents:
Search of EU law documents (in the website of the Seimas)
