EU Commission issues second warning to Finland

Because of the delayed transposition of the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD), the EU Commission will launch the second stage of infringement proceedings against Finland. The EU body announced on Thursday that it will send a reasoned opinion to Finland, thus giving the Scandinavian country two months to complete the WFD's transposition. According to the Commission, Finland is the 14th EU country in the second stage of infringement proceedings for failure to meet the December 2010 deadline for fully transposing the WFD into national law. In case the member states fail to comply with the second reminder, the Commission may proceed with the third and final step of the procedure and refer the case to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ). New rules enable the EU Commission to ask for financial sanctions at the first referral to the court, without having to return for a second ruling.