The European Commission today asked eight member states to explain why they have not yet implemented EU laws on opening up national energy markets for competition.

The Commission said that Bulgaria, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Spain had not informed the Commission “of any transposition measures” being taken to comply with two directives that open up national electricity and gas markets. Estonia was also singled out for failing to communicate whether it had implemented the EU’s gas directive.

The eight member states had been given a deadline of 3 March to implement the directives, and failing to do so could lead to legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ can impose fines on countries for failing to comply with EU legislation.

In a letter sent to the eight member states, the Commission said they should “comply with their legal obligation” to make sure the directives were fully transposed into national law. It gave the member states two months to respond to the letters.

The two directives were agreed upon by member states in 2009 and are part of the EU’s third energy package, which is supposed to create an internal energy market by 2014.

The decision to challenge the eight countries was part of a package of 186 decisions to take action against member states for failing to comply with EU legislation.