Brussels, 21/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's Internal Market Department has set up on its website a portal covering all the one-stop shops that member states have to set up in line with Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market. These national contact points are supposed to have adequate technical, financial and human, resources to be able to inform service providers of the current rules and to undertake certain administrative tasks, including cross-border. All the links to national one-stop shops are not yet active (Italy and Romania) or direct surfers to very general government sites (Greece, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia). Several internet sites are available only in the national language. For more information, go to http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_market.eu-go/index_en.htm
An assessment by the Commission (see EUROPE 10050) has revealed that transposition of the services directive is behind schedule in six member states: Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. The European rules have been applicable since the end of December 2009 in the countries of the EU and the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). (M.B./transl.rt)