Brussels, 23/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The broad thrust of the new internal market strategy which the European Commission plans to unveil in November has already been well trailed, with definite initiatives for 2016 and 2017, including with regard to forthcoming legislative initiatives, as EUROPE was able to note in a draft communication.
Among all the measures envisaged (to which EUROPE will return in greater detail in our next newsletter), the Commission intends to act on the collaborative economy, the growing momentum for which is raising interest and concern in equal measure among the member states. The Commission has indicated that, in 2016, it will prepare a European timetable to lay the necessary foundations to support the rapid development of this sector, with guidelines as to how European legislation applies.
In terms of support for SMEs and start-ups, the Commission wants to amend European legislation to allow companies that have gone bankrupt a second chance. It is planning to launch a European pact for start-ups next year, with a view to carrying out a wide-ranging assessment of what is required of these micro-companies and examine ways of reducing the demands on them. In this, it is hoping to use the funding from the COSME programme to support SMEs, to enable it to provide targeted information to innovative SMEs which would like to expand beyond their own borders. Lastly, it plans to extend the provisions of the blue card directive for entrepreneurs.
In terms of services, the Commission will look to launch a legislative initiative in 2016 introducing a services passport. The aim here is to harmonise administrative procedures in order to remove the legal-administrative uncertainty which discourages some service providers from expanding onto European markets. It is planning the regular publication of studies focusing on the reforms that have to be put into effect in the member states concerned - it intends to do the same for the trade sector in the course of 2017.
As for tackling discriminatory practices against consumers and entrepreneurs, the Commission would like to take a series of measures, both legislative and administrative, in 2016 to address discrimination on the grounds of place of residence or nationality. For this, the Commission plans to put in place instruments to strengthen transparency, facilitate conversation between consumers and consumer associations and, above all, it will review the regulation on cooperation in consumer protection.
The transparency, effectiveness and accountability in awarding public contracts are also contained in the programme for 2017. Here, the Commission is proposing to put in place a voluntary ex-ante assessment mechanism of large-scale infrastructure projects of European interest. To this end, it will encourage member states to improve the review of procurement decisions, for example, by working with the member states to put in place contract registers covering the whole life cycle of contracts and to support the development and deployment of data analytics and anomaly-detection tools.
For intellectual property, the Commission intends to bring forward initiatives to consolidate and update the current framework, including to support the use of intellectual property by SMEs. On the basis of a forthcoming consultation, it intends to improve the European patent system, in particular for the pharmaceutical sector. It intends to apply a “follow the money” approach to commercial-scale infringements.
As early as next year, the Commission could announce the revision of the notification procedure to enhance the service directive, modelled on the provisions of Directive 98/34/EC and extend it to include services not currently covered by the procedure.
Lastly, the Commission has announced a European Pact on Standardisation to be concluded as early as 2016 with the European standardisation community and, in 2017, will review the regulation on mutual recognition. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)