The European Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to six member states, including Ireland, for allegedly having notified only the partial transposition of the Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive.

It has also sent a letter of formal notice to 11 other member states for failing to communicate any measures on transposition.

Member states had until 28 December 2024 to transpose the directive, which aims for a more balanced gender representation on the boards of listed companies.

It sets a target of 40 per cent of “the under-represented sex” among the non-executive directors of EU large listed companies, and of 33 per cent among all directors.

Separately, the Commission has sent a formal notice to eight member states, including Ireland, for allegedly failing to transpose the directive on the special VAT scheme for small enterprises.

The directive, which member states were obliged to transpose by 31 December 2024, allows small enterprises to sell goods and services without charging VAT and alleviates their VAT compliance obligations.

It also allows small enterprises established in another member state than where VAT is due to exempt their supplies from VAT in the same way as domestically established small enterprises can in their respective member state.

In both cases, Ireland has two months to respond, to complete transposition of the directives and to notify measures to the Commission. Failing that, the Commission may decide to take the next step by issuing reasoned opinions.