Infringement Case Dataset by the European Union

The European Commission provides data on all infringement cases since 2002 on their homepage: Link. We present the data by member state and then combined the data for the figures you find in the book.

We present the data below. While reading, please keep in mind the questions you see below and answer them once you reached the end. In the end, we provide a link to a platform with an interactive version of the dataset and additional tasks.

Table 1: General Tasks for the Dataset

Tasks
Compared to the overall number of infringement cases, which countries are more likely to see a case against them at the moment?
Which policy areas are more affected by infringement cases and why might that be the case?

Dataset Description

Table shows 2 some of the information in the dataset for the first few infringement cases in the dataset. Each infringement procedure has a Infringement number. Since there can be several steps in each procedure (a formal notice, referral or closing of the procedure), most procedures stretch multiple rows in the dataset. The dataset provides information on the type of decision as well as the policy area that is affected by the infringement and the department that is in charge in the European Commission.

Table 2: Main Variables in the dataset

Infringement.case.number	Decision.date_fixed	Decision.type	Country	Policy.area
INFR(1978)2088	1995-06-28	Formal notice Art. 258 TFEU	Germany	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1978)2088	2003-05-13	Closing of the case	Germany	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	1989-11-29	Referral to Court Art. 258 TFEU	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	2002-07-17	Reasoned opinion ex Art. 228 EC	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	1989-05-31	Reasoned opinion Art. 258 TFEU	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	2003-07-09	Closing of the case	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	1988-12-22	Reasoned opinion Art. 258 TFEU	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	1987-12-02	Formal notice Art. 258 TFEU	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1988)0202	2002-03-20	Formal notice Art. 260 TFEU	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
INFR(1989)0335	1993-06-09	Additional formal notice Art. 258 TFEU	Ireland	Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Table 3 shows the remaining information in the dataset for the same cases. The dataset contains a title for each case, which is generally in French, It also has indicators whether the infringement case is active at the time of download and what type of infringement was recorded (i.e. where transposition into national law was late or not reported).

Table 3: Main Variables in the dataset

Infringement.case.number	Country	Title	Active.infringement.case	Type.of.infringement
INFR(1978)2088	Germany	IMPORTATION DE MATERIEL SPECIFIQUEMENT MILITAIRE	No	Bad application of regulations, Treaties and decisions
INFR(1978)2088	Germany	IMPORTATION DE MATERIEL SPECIFIQUEMENT MILITAIRE	No	Bad application of regulations, Treaties and decisions
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1988)0202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	Bad application of directives
INFR(1989)0335	Ireland	REGLEMENTATION SUR LE PRIX DES TABACS	No	Bad application of regulations, Treaties and decisions

While the figures in the book show the number of total cases for the time period 2002 to 2023, we can also look at the active cases at the time of downloading the data (August 2024). You see those in Figure 1.

Finally, we can look at the policy areas and connected directorate-generals at the Commission for the infringement cases. Figure 2 shows the cases by policy area.