Six EU countries (Finland, France, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and Sweden) have draft laws in place which have been notified to the European Commission. The Directive also applies to those countries in the European Economic Area which are not part of the EU, namely Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. Both Norway and Iceland have draft laws in place which have been notified.
Four countries have draft laws in place which have not yet been notified to the Commission: Ireland, Greece, The Netherlands and Portugal.
Last Thursday, the Department of Trade and Industry released the first draft of the UK laws for an 8-week consultation period. In doing so, the UK moved one step ahead of Italy which is still in the process of drawing up its draft laws to implement the Directive.