As the executive arm of the EU, the European Commission has many responsibilities, including overseeing compliance with EU law. Under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission can investigate member states’ possible infringement of EU law. The Commission does so via various formal and informal instruments, including:

  • Infringement procedure: a formal procedure that commences with the Commission delivering a reasoned opinion explaining why a member state has failed to fulfil an obligation. There then follows a written dialogue with fixed response times. An infringement procedure is closed when the Commission considers the possible infringement has been resolved.
  • Court of Justice of the EU: as the final step in an infringement procedure, the Commission can refer a case to the Court of Justice of the EU. The member state must comply with the Court’s judgment and take measures to end any infringement of EU law. In the final instance, the Court can impose a daily penalty payment and/or a lump sum fine on the member state.
  • Pre-infringement dialogue (previously EU Pilot): an informal procedure comprising a structured written dialogue between the Commission and a member state and initiated if the Commission suspects a possible infringement of EU law. Depending on the outcome, the Commission decides whether a formal procedure is necessary.
  • SOLVIT: an informal mediation mechanism the Commission introduced in 2002 to resolve problems citizens or businesses in one member state experience in another member state.

In addition, a national court can seek clarification about the correct application or interpretation of a particular aspect of EU law by asking for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice.

An actual infringement of EU law occurs only if the Court of Justice or another court definitively rules this to be the case.

The European Commission reports on its website that 1,611 infringement procedures are currently being carried out in the EU as a whole. The Netherlands is involved in 54 of them (as at 31 December 2025). 552 new infringement procedures were initiated in 2025, 19 involving the Netherlands. 20 infringement procedures against the Netherlands were closed in 2025. At present, 18 pre-infringement dialogues are being held with the Netherlands (as at 31 December 2025).

From initiation to closure, the average duration of an infringement procedure involving the Netherlands in 2025 was 45.3 months. The European average was 34.3 months. In 2025, 2 infringement procedures involving the Netherlands were referred to the EU Court of Justice: the award of railway concessions to NS and the non-transposition of the non-preforming loans directive.

The Netherlands’ transposition deficit (the percentage of directives not incorporated into national law by the deadline) was above average in 2025 (2.01% versus an EU average of 1.7%). Its compliance deficit (the percentage of directives incorporated into national law involved in an infringement procedure due to incorrect application), by contrast, was below the EU average in 2025 (1.54% versus 1.6%).

The European Commission has kept a public record of compliance with EU laws since April 2015.

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