The European Commission is still waiting to receive data from Malta on the hazardous gas emitted from the island's two power stations last year.

Despite missing the end-of-March deadline, Brussels has not started legal proceedings against the island yet as it is hoping the Maltese authorities will send in the required data in the coming days, Commission sources said.

"We are not aware of the specific causes of the delay. We are already in contact with the Maltese authorities over the issue as our priority is to ensure that the information is reported.

"Malta has reported this information in the past, so we're confident it will be forthcoming," the sources said.

Installations are required to submit verified emissions data under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Malta was the only member state that has not done so on time. The state power provider Enemalta is responsible for providing this data.

Enemalta sources last month said that although the corporation had concluded its fieldwork and collected the data, it had still to be certified according to international standards.

Since Malta has no accredited verifier, a Greek company designated to do this job has still to conclude its report.