Chapter XI, delegated acts, implementing powers and final provisions
Article 30: Penalties
Penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, be notified to the Commission, and reflect seriousness, the number of units and the number of people affected.
- Citation
- Article 30, CELEX 32019L0882 (Directive)
- Binds
- Member States, which set the penalties, and the operators exposed to them.
- In the instrument
- Chapter XI, delegated acts, implementing powers and final provisions
- Applies from
- 28 June 2025 for products placed and services provided from that date (Article 31(2)). The Article 4(8) 112 duty may be deferred to 28 June 2027 where a member state uses Article 31(3).
- Source
- EUR-Lex, CELEX 32019L0882
What it requires
Paragraph 1 requires member states to lay down rules on penalties for breaches of the national measures and to take all measures needed to ensure they are applied. Paragraph 2 sets the standard: effective, proportionate and dissuasive, accompanied by effective remedial action where an operator does not comply.
Paragraph 3 requires notification of the rules and measures to the Commission without delay, and of any later amendment. Paragraph 4 sets the factors: how far the failure reaches, how serious it is, the number of non-complying units or services, and the number of people affected.
Paragraph 5 removes public procurement procedures covered by the two procurement directives. The penalty level therefore lives in national law. The article tells a compliance team what to look for when it builds a penalty-exposure note: the member state's implementing measure, the maximum, and whether remedial action is separately ordered.
In practice
A penalty-exposure note should state the national maximum, whether remedial action can be ordered separately, and how the authority has applied the provision in practice. The article's factors, seriousness, units and affected people, are also the structure of the mitigation narrative if a breach is found.
What to do
- Collect the penalty provision from each member state where you sell.
- Record the maximum and the remedial-action powers.
- Assess exposure using units and affected people, as the article directs.
Evidence to keep
- The national penalty provisions with citations and dates.
- A penalty-exposure note per market.
- The remediation record where a breach was found.
Dates
- 2025-06-28Penalties apply to breaches as the measures apply. (Article 31(2))
Cross-references
Where teams get this wrong
A single European sentence about penalties hides the real position. The level, the remedial order and the enforcement practice differ by member state, and the article points to all three.
Read from the Official Journal text of Directive (EU) 2019/882, OJ L 151/70, 7 June 2019, Article 30. Check it yourself: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882. This page states the provision in our own words and is not legal advice; it does not certify any product or service.