Brussels, 11/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The member states intend to highlight SMEs, start-ups and innovative companies during the Competitiveness Council on 29 February next, according to the draft conclusions from the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU, dated 3 February.
Services and improving implementation of European legislation in the context of the single market strategy will also be particularly focused on by the ministers responsible for industry.
In the perspective of the Think Small First Principle, member states will subsequently focus on the question of the sharing economy and call on the Commission to provide guidance on implementation of the European acquis applied to the sector from now until the summer, in agreement with the timetable set out by the Commission (see EUROPE 11419).
In view of facilitating the activities of small entrepreneurial undertakings, member states are calling on the Commission to present to them in September this year with a report on the progress achieved on the Single Digital Gateway and the Points of Single Contact (PSC), together with the PSC Charter.
Ministers will also flag up the need to reduce VAT generated costs, particularly the issue of simplifying the VAT system in the single digital market, in an effort to support small online firms, as well as the simplification planned in the context of the single market strategy (see EUROPE 11417). They are also hoping for these two initiatives to be adopted as soon as possible, in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
On the issue of services, the Council particularly welcomed the services passport project (see EUROPE 11417), whilst emphasising, however, that it should not be imposed on service providers but should be requested on a voluntary basis by them and based on the already existing internal market information system (IMI). Ministers believe that the Commission's sectoral approach is good and are also calling for the analytical framework for evaluating the proportionality of professional regulation to be extended across the board of all service activities.
On the question of existing European legislation, member states are committed to taking action and are requesting, at the same time, that the Commission prioritizes the action needed to ensure respect for legislation on the basis of “objective and transparent” criteria and concentrating on “unjustified and disproportionate” barriers. In this perspective, they reiterate the importance of strengthening the role of SOLVIT (enterprise assistance service, which feels somewhat sidelined by the respective public administration bodies) and calls on the Commission to undertake action by summer 2016 and take into account of the areas of action defined in the September 2015 Lisbon document on the future of SOLVIT, namely: - enhancing interaction between the Commission's services and the SOLVIT dedicated centres; - improving the analysis of repeated unresolved cases and optimising complaints procedures. Finally, in the context of the European Semester, member states are committed to moving forward in the reform process, in an effort to remove barriers to the effective functioning of the internal market, particularly in the services field. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)