The European Union is taking the U.K. to court in two cases involving its tax system and the application of the regional bloc's natural gas rules.

In one of a host of so-called infringement cases announced Thursday by the European Commission, the U.K. was referred to the European Court of Justice for abolishing the right of taxpayers to be reimbursed for taxes paid in breach of EU law.

EU law says the reimbursement of taxes should not be made impossible or excessively difficult but that the U.K. had abolished one of the processes used by taxpayers seeking repayment. The Commission said "no proper transitional rules" had been provided and it is "therefore practically impossible...to exercise the rights conferred by EU law."

The EU's executive is also referring the U.K. and Ireland to court over cross-border gas provision rules.

The Commission said that the gas pipeline connecting Ireland and Northern Ireland 1s not open to the market. It also said that on the gas pipeline connecting Scotland to Northern Ireland , short-term services are not available.

As a result, the EU said the U.K. and Ireland are not complying with rules which say member states must offer the "maximum interconnection capacity" for cross border gas trade.

The Commission noted U.K. and Irish plans to create a cross-boarder market but said the project had been delayed and that it was therefore going ahead with the infringement case.

In other cases, the Commission referred Portugal to court for failing to implement a law concerning distance marketing of consumer financial services into national law. The Commission said Portugal had failed to protect consumer rights to withdraw from a service contract.

It also took Bulgaria court for failing to implement rules injecting competition in the railway sector.
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