European Union – Approximation of national laws. Articles 7 and 20 of Directive (EU) 2012/27 should be interpreted as meaning that they did not preclude national legislation which laid down, as the principal method of fulfilling energy efficiency obligations, a mechanism of annual contribution to an Energy Efficiency National Fund, provided, on the one hand, that that legislation ensured the achievement of energy savings to an extent equivalent to the energy efficiency obligation schemes which could be implemented under art 7(1) of that directive, and, on the other, that the requirements of art 7(10) and (11) of that directive, were satisfied, which it was for the referring court to ascertain. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held, among other things, in a preliminary ruling in proceedings concerning the legality of the Spanish ministerial order which had established the contribution requirements to that energy efficiency fund.