Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161

Teema: FW: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Modernisation Directive) - fines From: MORKYTE Elvina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, December 9, 2024 7:10 PM To: Kristina Jerjomina - MKM <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; PRIEDITIS Martins <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; KANELLOPOULOU Maria-Myrto <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Merike Koppel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Modernisation Directive) - fines Dear Kristina, I refer to our exchanges in 2022 on the penalties, in the context of the transposition in Estonia of the Modernisation Directive.   On 7 November 2023, the Commission sent an EU Pilot letter (EUP (2023)10579) to Estonia raising therein some issues of transposition of the Modernisation Directive, including an issue of transposition of the rule on fines in the context of CPC coordinated enforcement actions. In their reply of 18 January 2024, the Estonian authorities informed the Commission that Estonia transposed the fines rates into Estonian law in the maximum possible way and have completed the directive’s transposition. It was also indicated in the reply to the EUP that the amendment of 1 November 2023 (to the Penal Code) regarding fine rates came into force. It says that the Special Part of this Code or another law may provide for the application of a fine on a different basis and in a different amount from that provided in subsections 1 and 2 of this section, taking into account the specific nature of the regulated area (section 47 (3)). Because the provision only came into effect recently, we do not have any practice on how this provision will be applied. Furthermore, it was indicated that fine rates higher than 400,000 euros are intended to be used primarily for data protection and financial services issues. The same is written in the explanatory letter of this new provision. It means that so far the consumer protection area is not covered by this new section. We have analysed the Estonian authorities’ reply to the EUP and will communicate the formal response soon. Aside from the above-mentioned information could you please indicate by 12th December whether there have been any other developments to the national legislation transposing the Modernisation Directive, notably, concerning the rule on fines in the context of CPC coordinated enforcement actions? Thank you in advance and we look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Elvina Morkytė Legal Officer European Commission DG Justice and Consumers JUST B2 – Consumer Law From: Kristina Jerjomina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 2:31 PM To: MORKYTE Elvina (JUST) <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Merike Koppel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: PRIEDITIS Martins (JUST) <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: RE: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Dear Elvina, Thank You for Your email! I would like to explain the situation with penalties in Estonia. In order to do the transposition of Omnibus Directive’s provisions on penalties that are subject to coordinated enforcement under the CPC Regulation (e.g., paras 4 and 5, Art. 8b UCTD), we increased the maximum amounts of fines to the maximum extent possible. According to § 47 of the Estonian Penal Code, a court or a body conducting extra-judicial proceedings may impose a fine of 100-400,000 euros on a legal person who commits a misdemeanour. Thus, this is the maximum amount of penalty rate that may be provided in the Consumer Protection Act. In the last years, there have been discussions on various possible changes to the Penal Code in the future, and also on the possibility of creating additional legislation that would only regulate violations arising from EU legislation, i.e. large-scale violations. There was even a proposal for such act, but however, it did not find much support and contained number of issues. For now, there has been no progress in this regard and it is not clear whether this proposal will move forward at all. Fundamental changes in Penal Code are also unlikely due to the forthcoming elections in the first half of next year. In light of the above, it is our understanding that those provisions on penalties are transposed in the Estonian law in the maximum possible way. We would still prefer this to be a complete transposition, as there is no ohter likely way to transpose it differently at the moment. Kind regards, Kristina Jerjomina Consumer Protection and Trade Advisor Business and Consumer Environment Department +372 625 6420 Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications www.mkm.ee <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.mkm.ee/__;!!DOxrgLBm!H8asBpGWabxd7sjpuWOxcxqAVaYf9ImpwYpPj2SijtiqOTC0_elTobzT8ol7-q9PNXJ5l6Nl_ID9TIelP8gvE4XbptVvtLCdT4o$> | Suur-Ameerika 1, Tallinn Eesti ; From: MORKYTE Elvina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, May 3, 2022 4:24 PM To: Merike Koppel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Kristina Jerjomina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: PRIEDITIS Martins <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: FW: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Dear Colleagues, We refer to the Estonian notifications of the transposition measures for the Omnibus Directive (2019/2161). Following last notifications (in THEMIS) of April 2022, Estonia declared transposition to be “complete”. In the notification MNE(2022)02645, vastavustabel (attached), Estonia indicates that transposition has not yet been done for the Omnibus Directive’s provisions on penalties that are subject to coordinated enforcement under the CPC Regulation (e.g., paras 4 and 5, Art. 8b UCTD): Selliste laiaulatuslike rikkumiste valguses on TKS-i lisatavas §-s 741 maksimaalseks karistusmääraks ette nähtud 400 000 eurot. See on maksimaalne võimalik trahvimäär, mida on Eestis võimalik väärteo puhul kehtestada (karistusseadustik § 47 lg 2). Sätte täieliku ülevõtmise eelduseks on haldustrahvimenetluse seaduse kehtestamine või karistusseadustiku muutmine ja 400 000 eurost kõrgema määraga rahatrahvi määramise võimaluse loomine EL õigusest tulenevate nõuete rikkumise korral. Therefore, it is our understanding that those provisions on penalties are not transposed yet in the Estonian law. We would invite Estonia to consider changing declaration “complete” to “partial” until those outstanding provisions are notified. kind regards, Elvina Morkytė Legal Officer European Commission DG Justice and Consumers JUST E2 – Consumer and Marketing Law LX40 04/011, B-1049 Brussels Tel.: +32 2 2968814 From: MORKYTE Elvina (JUST) Sent: Monday, March 28, 2022 12:49 PM To: 'Merike Koppel' <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; PRIEDITIS Martins (JUST) <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Kristina Jerjomina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Külli Kraner <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: RE: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Dear Merike, Thank you for this information. Apologies for a delay in coming back to you. Will those acts ensure a complete transposition of the Directive? I understand that you haven’t yet notified in THEMIS the act adopted on 16 March 2022? The last notification – partial transposition – in THEMIS dates back to 17 12 2021. kind regards, Elvina Morkytė Legal Officer European Commission DG Justice and Consumers JUST E2 – Consumer and Marketing Law LX40 04/011, B-1049 Brussels Tel.: +32 2 2968814 From: Merike Koppel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, March 18, 2022 11:26 AM To: PRIEDITIS Martins (JUST) <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; MORKYTE Elvina (JUST) <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Kristina Jerjomina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Külli Kraner <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: RE: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Dear Martin, Dear Elvina I would like to share the information about the status of the transposition of the directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) in Estonia. As Kristina already mentioned in the previous letter, the transition in Estonia will be made by two draft acts. Draft act amending the Law of Obligations Act and the Consumer Protection Act which was adopted by the Parliament and is already officially published and draft act amending the Consumer Protection Act was adopted at the Parliament on 16th of March. Please find link here: https://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/ee205362-6a10-461e-aa06-57b1e5460a7d/Tarbijakaitseseaduse%20muutmise%20seadus <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/ee205362-6a10-461e-aa06-57b1e5460a7d/Tarbijakaitseseaduse*20muutmise*20seadus__;JSU!!DOxrgLBm!Wq-eJ6PNozG2lWbaBGY1u5Chs-1uy50sDojmosPtZVwLrVh_K8Z-nxOlUw8dNcqjErLdNqD7$> With regards Merike Koppel Merike Koppel Head of Business Environment Business and Consumer Environment Department +372 625 6411 Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications www.mkm.ee <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.mkm.ee/__;!!DOxrgLBm!Wq-eJ6PNozG2lWbaBGY1u5Chs-1uy50sDojmosPtZVwLrVh_K8Z-nxOlUw8dNcqjErpp76X0$> | Suur-Ameerika 1, Tallinn From: PRIEDITIS Martins <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, December 13, 2021 12:37 PM To: Kristina Jerjomina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Merike Koppel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; MORKYTE Elvina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: RE: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Dear Kristina, Many thanks for the information, very useful. If some the planned transposition measures are fully adopted, you may want to notify them to the Commission as “partial” transposition already now, without awaiting the adoption of the remaining laws. Grateful if you could update us on major developments also in the future. Best regards, Martins Martins Prieditis Deputy Head of Unit E.2 "Consumer and Marketing Law" Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers European Commission LX40 04/019 B-1049 Brussels/Belgium Tel. +32 (0)229-88101 E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> From: Kristina Jerjomina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, December 7, 2021 6:22 PM To: PRIEDITIS Martins (JUST) <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Merike Koppel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: RE: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Dear Martins Prieditis, THank You for offering assistance regarding the notification to the Commission of the national transposition measures. We are glad to share the information about the status of the transposition of the directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) in Estonia. The transition will be made by two draft acts: 1) draft act amending the Law of Obligations Act and the Consumer Protection Act which was adopted by the Parliament and is already officially published (it falls within the competence of the Ministry of Justice) and 2) draft act amending the Consumer Protection Act. The second one includes also the rules on penalties. Amendments will increase the penalty rate in several provisions up to 400 000 EUR which is the maximum possible level of fines foreseen in our penal code for misdemeanours. We deemed it necessary to guarantee effective enforcement of these provisions by companies with large economic powers. The draft is currently at the Parliament and has passed the first reading. Please find link to the proposed national legislation here: https://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/ee205362-6a10-461e-aa06-57b1e5460a7d/Tarbijakaitseseaduse%20muutmise%20seadus <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/ee205362-6a10-461e-aa06-57b1e5460a7d/Tarbijakaitseseaduse*20muutmise*20seadus__;JSU!!DOxrgLBm!VnBb0100iItPiy7joTDrNqXfX2mjESZVza285JFdhpLFL1fsBW2RQzTEtMny0dTM1QJUvVJbQQ$> Best regards, Kristina Jerjomina Consumer Protection and Trade Advisor Business and Consumer Environment Department +372 625 6420 Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications www.mkm.ee <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.mkm.ee/__;!!DOxrgLBm!VnBb0100iItPiy7joTDrNqXfX2mjESZVza285JFdhpLFL1fsBW2RQzTEtMny0dTM1QIS1ThTVg$> | Suur-Ameerika 1, Tallinn Eesti From: PRIEDITIS Martins [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ] Sent: Monday, October 18, 2021 12:34 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; Kaidi Urgas <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Kristiina Koll <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; Riina Piliste <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Risto Jõgi <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: MORKYTE Elvina <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus) Tähelepanu! Tegemist on välisvõrgust saabunud kirjaga. Tundmatu saatja korral palume linke ja faile mitte avada. Dear Colleagues, I hope this e-mail finds you well. As we are approaching the end of the transposition period for Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus), we would like to offer our assistance regarding the notification to the Commission of the national transposition measures (and of the national rules on penalties and concerning the regulatory choices when those are subject to additional, separate notification obligation). If you would like to share information about the status of the transposition in Estonia and the plans for notification, we would be very interested to receive it. The Wiki collaborative space of the Member States’ Expert Group remains at your disposal at: Topics - Directive (EU) 2019/2161 - Collaborative workspace of the Member States' Expert Group on Consumer Law - Global Site (europa.eu) <https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/wikis/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=644907646> Finally, I take this opportunity to inform you that Elvina Morkytė (in cc), our new colleague in Unit JUST E2, will coordinate the transposition process for Directive (EU) 2019/2161. Please do not hesitate to contact her for any queries you may have. Best regards, Martins Prieditis Deputy Head of Unit E.2 "Consumer and Marketing Law" Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers European Commission LX40 04/019 B-1049 Brussels/Belgium Tel. +32 (0)229-88101 E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>