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EU Services Directive

EU Services Directive. Why? How? and When?. EU Services Directive. Economic rationale : Services - 75% of EU GDP; 70% of total employment. cross-border services - 5% of EU GDP Economic gains: 60 and 140 billion Euro Growth potential: 0.6-1.5% of EU GDP Legal basis:

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EU Services Directive

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  1. EU Services Directive Why? How? and When?

  2. EU Services Directive Economic rationale: • Services - 75% of EU GDP; • 70% of total employment. • cross-border services - 5% of EU GDP • Economic gains: 60 and 140 billion Euro • Growth potential: 0.6-1.5% of EU GDP Legal basis: • Art. 26 TFEU: The ‘four freedoms’: „area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons and services and capital is ensured

  3. WHY?

  4. HOW? The Directive Wide reach: • all services unless specifically excluded 40% of EU GDP. • applies to EFTA countries (Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland) • Business. • Local Authorities

  5. Services Directive Main tools: • Online applications and business information (Points of Single Contact) • Simplification: Removal of restrictions and barriers • Enhanced regulatory cooperation – IMI

  6. HOW?

  7. 1st tool: Points of single contact • Offer possibility for service providers to obtain all relevant information and to complete all relevant procedures. • Business can research information; download, upload forms and documents; pay application fee • Authority receives application and processes and notifies about result/outcome.

  8. PSC in UK • UK’s PSC is available on businesslink.gov.uk (UKWelcomes for non UK-based companies) • all 433 UK local authorities plus a further 107 organisations • Applications mainly from UK-based businesses. • Volumes of transactions are increasing

  9. UK PSC

  10. PSC implementation across EU • Just information about the requirements (BE, BG, CY, IR, MT) • Possibility to complete procedures online (AT, CZ, DK, EE, FN, FR, DE ,HU, IR, LV, LT, LUX) • PSC not fully functioning yet (RO, GR, IT, SK, SL)

  11. 2nd tool: Simplification, screening • Requirements to be removed (black list - Art.14): • discriminations (directly or indirectly based on nationality) • prohibitions on having establishments in other MS • economic needs tests • involvement of competing operators in authorisations • Requirements to be evaluated (grey list - Art.15): • quantitative and territorial restrictions • fixed tariffs • specific legal form and shareholding requirements • ban on more than one establishment • minimum number of employees

  12. Simplification In principle, authorities should not ask for: • Original documents • Certified copies of documents • Certified translations Tacit consent - unless it is explicitly stated that tacit consent does not apply, the service provider can assume that authorisation has been granted if the authority does not reply within the timescale indicated.

  13. Screening: Examples of removed barriers • French, Belgian and Dutch law abolished economic tests for large retail facilities • In Austria, a service provider can now operate more than one dance school. • An electrician in Luxembourg no longer needs separate authorisations each time they work with a different voltage. • In the Netherlands private education services can be provided by natural as well as legal persons

  14. In Austria, Italy, Greece and Cyprus tourist guides are subject to legal form requirements. A mountain guide in Austria must be a legal person. In Austria a chimney sweep is subject to legal form, fixed tariffs and territorial restrictions, and banned from having more than one establishment. In Greece, directors wishing to work in hotels of more than 1* must have graduated from a higher tourism school and speak at least one foreign language. Examples of barriers remaining

  15. 3rd tool: Cooperation between authorities • Development of the “Internal Market Information system” (IMI) to support administrative cooperation between authorities. • Main features: search facilities, pre-translated questions and answers, secure communication between authorities.

  16. IMI

  17. WHEN? • Agreed December 2006 • Implementation deadline December 2009 • Peer review process in 2010 • Review – December 2011/2012 • Full implementation a priority: transposition, PSC

  18. National transposition: • 23 Member States have adopted a horizontal law to transpose the directive. • In Austria and Luxembourg adoption of the horizontal law has accumulated serious delays. • In Austria, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Slovenia drafting of the required changes to sector-specific legislation is significantly behind schedule.

  19. PSC establishment: • PSCs are available in 22 Member States. • 23 countries offer basic online PSC services in English, in addition to the national language(s). Five Member States only provide PSC services in their national language(s). • 17 PSCs allow for the actual online completion of procedures. • In 14 countries the points of single contact are supported by physical offices where providers can obtain personal assistance.

  20. A lot still needs to be done • Single Market for services: Full and effective implementation of the Services Directive • Many barriers still exist to effective cross-border businesses • Transparency • Effective information exchange

  21. Thank you!

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