Ireland has been accused of breaching EU rules governing the licensing of property services providers, customs data transmission and the protection of the EU budget from fraud.

Letters of formal notice in respect of all three alleged breaches have now been sent, giving Ireland two months to respond and address the shortcomings. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.

The first of the three letters concerns an alleged breach of Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market in the context of property services.

It relates to the licensing regime for property services providers based in Ireland and the requirement for providers based outside of Ireland to be based in countries with an equivalent authorisation and client protection scheme.

The Commission says the frequent renewal of licences and the requirement for an equivalent regime are both unjustified and disproportionate, and prevents providers of property services from providing these services in Ireland if they are established in a member state where no such schemes exist.

The second letter concerns an alleged breach of the Union Customs Code (UCC, Regulation No. 952/2013) and its Implementing Act (UCC-IA, Regulation No. 2015/2447), which requires member states to transmit specific customs data through SURV3, an EU-operated digital system accessible to national customs authorities.

Czechia, Italy, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia have also been sent letters of formal notice alleging they have failed to comply with this legislation.

The third letter concerns an alleged failure of Ireland to comply with its obligations under Article 7(3a) of the OLAF Regulation (Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013).

The OLAF Regulation governs the work of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to protect the budget of the European Union.

In 2020, the OLAF Regulation was amended to introduce specific provisions to clarify the duty of member states to assist OLAF by transmitting bank account information and records of banking transactions.

Requirements have been in force since January 2021, yet Ireland has not notified the national authority competent to provide OLAF with bank account information and records of bank transactions.