EUROPE - The European Commission has rapped the Czech government for failing to comply with a court ruling from January on the implementation of the IORP pension fund directive.

The European Court of Judgement (ECJ) ruled in January that the Czech Republic had "failed to fulfil its obligations" under the Pension Funds Directive by "not fully transposing the directive into national law before the transposition deadline" in 2005.

Now the European Commission has formally requested the Czech Republic to comply with the ruling.

The member state has two months to respond to the request - after that, the Commission can take the Czech Republic back to court to get a lump sum, or request a penalty payment.

Since 2006, the Czech Republic has argued that a full implementation of the directive would be unnecessary, as Czech law currently allows pension provision from the first and third pillars only.

However, the Court ruled that the legal framework nevertheless had to be put in place, in case the Czech Republic decided to supplement its national retirement pension system with an occupational retirement provision scheme falling under the second pillar.
 

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