Services Package: mandatory notification should help prevent Single Market barriers
Retailers today
welcomed the Commission publication of the long-awaited EU Services
Package. An important element of the package is the review of the
notification procedure under the Services Directive for
national rules. The sector sees this as a major step in improving the
Single Market for services and tackling national legislation which would
be incompatible with EU law.
Better application of the Services Directive is of utmost importance. The
Commission estimates that more ambitious implementation of the
Services Directive would add 1.8 % to EU GDP. In particular it will
help reinforce the competitiveness of the retail sector, with wider
choice and lower prices for consumers.
Member States have
approached authorisation procedures for setting up shop in so many very
different ways that it is impossible to operate in a similar fashion in
different Member States or even regions within
a Member State (Commission study 2014).
An objective, transparent and non-discriminatory approach should form
the basis of all authorisation procedures. Any measure should be
justified, necessary and
proportionate, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity. Numerous
national laws do not respect the freedom of establishment or the
freedom to provide a service and are difficult to challenge.
Christian Verschueren, EuroCommerce Director-General, said:
"The EU needs to
be able to better prevent Single Market barriers from being erected,
rather than resolving infringements post hoc. A mandatory framework
requiring notification of draft laws, public and
transparent, with a consultation period of 3 months for the Commission
to assess the draft law, should make a fundamental difference to the
Single Market. As is already the case with rules on goods, laws that
have not been notified should be rendered null
and void. ”
At present, the
majority of Member States do not notify (draft) national laws within the
scope of the Services Directive to the Commission. Even those that do
notify usually do not do so before the law is
adopted. Issues arising from these rules can then only be resolved post
hoc through lengthy infringement procedures. We hope that a new
requirement to notify will allow the Commission to request from a Member
State to refrain from adopting rules incompatible
with the Services Directive and make implementation and application of
the Directive significantly more effective.
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