The European Commission provides data on all infringement cases since 2002 on their website. 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_number	Decision_date	Decision_type	Member_state	Policy_area___Department_in_charge
19782088	2002/01/10	Formal notice Art. 258 TFEU	Germany	Taxation and Customs Union
19782088	2003/05/13	Closing of the case	Germany	Taxation and Customs Union
19880202	2002/03/20	Formal notice Art. 260 TFEU	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
19880202	2002/07/17	Reasoned opinion ex Art. 228 EC	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
19880202	2003/07/09	Closing of the case	United Kingdom	Taxation and Customs Union
19900358	2005/07/05	Formal notice Art. 260 TFEU	Netherlands	Mobility and Transport
19900358	2006/12/12	Closing of the case	Netherlands	Mobility and Transport
19900388	2002/06/26	Formal notice Art. 260 TFEU	Spain	Internal Market and services
19900388	2003/04/02	Closing of the case	Spain	Internal Market and services
19900418	2003/04/02	Formal notice Art. 260 TFEU	France	Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

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 whether it relates to an issue of non-communication (i.e. where transposition into national law was late or not reported).

Table 3: Main Variables in the dataset

Infringement_number	Member_state	Title	Active_infringement_cases	Non_communication
19782088	Germany	IMPORTATION DE MATERIEL SPECIFIQUEMENT MILITAIRE	No	No
19782088	Germany	IMPORTATION DE MATERIEL SPECIFIQUEMENT MILITAIRE	No	No
19880202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	No
19880202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	No
19880202	United Kingdom	TVA SUR LES PEAGES DES INFRASTRUCTURES ROUTIERES	No	No
19900358	Netherlands	NAVIRES COMMERCIAUX - PAVILLON	No	No
19900358	Netherlands	NAVIRES COMMERCIAUX - PAVILLON	No	No
19900388	Spain	RESTRICTIONS LIBRE PRESTATION DES GUIDES TOURISTIQUES	No	No
19900388	Spain	RESTRICTIONS LIBRE PRESTATION DES GUIDES TOURISTIQUES	No	No
19900418	France	MANQUEMENT REPETE A L’OBLIGATION DE CONTROLE	No	No

While the figures in the book show the number of total cases for the time period 2002 to 2018, we can also look at the active cases at the time of downloading the data (2020). You see those in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Number of Active Cases by Country

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.

Figure 2: Number of Cases by Policy Area