The so-called "Seveso II" directive, named after the 1976 disaster at a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy, where nearly 450 people suffered skin injuries, requires companies to comply with safety requirements and to adopt emergency plans.

Deadline for adoption of the directive was February 1999, but only Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy had complied, the Commission said in a statement.

The EU's executive body has already launched infringement proceedings against the remaining countries.

In a separate move, the Commission took Germany, Italy, Britain and Spain, the EU's largest members, to the European Court of Justice for failure to comply with EU waste legislation.

It said Germany erred by restricting the shipment of waste to other EU states where the waste is to be recovered in cement kilns. Germany fears that where burning efficiency requirements are not met the waste will simply be disposed of.

The legislation at stake does not concern the shipment of nuclear waste on which Germany has a two-year old ban expected to be lifted in August.

Britain was accused of failing to adopt waste management plans in compliance with several EU directives on waste, including packaging.