With the European Commission gearing up to present, on Tuesday 10 January, its legislative proposal to introduce a European 'services' card (ESC) to facilitate the provision of cross-border services by businesses, anxiety is mounting among companies, particularly SMEs, and unions, according to a number of sources we spoke to on Monday.
The Commission will present a legislative package aiming to reinforce the rules governing services within the EU in line with the strategy of the single market (see EUROPE 11420). This packet will contain: - a proposal on the notification procedures when a member state brings in new requirements for a services provider; - another proposal bringing in a proportionality test for the regulated professions; - guidelines to reform and reduce the number of regulated professions, and; - a proposal to bring in a European services card. However, whilst there seems to be more or less consensus on the first three proposals, the 'services' card has raised many questions and concerns among the social partners.
Luc Hendrickx, Director at the organisation UEAPME which represent SMEs and the craft industries at European level, has questioned the administrative forms to be covered by this proposal. "So far, the Commission has never said which administrative forms will be done away with as a result of this 'services' card", he told us. In particular, SMEs, most notably those in the construction sector, are concerned about the impact of this card on the national control mechanisms, particularly regarding personnel and professional qualifications. Hendrickx warned that unfair competition must be avoided.
This concern is shared by the unions. In December, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) voiced its misgivings, seeing the project as a support programme for undeclared work, letterbox companies and a way of getting around employment standards, fair remuneration and collective agreements and of encouraging social dumping.
Over at BusinessEurope, the apprehensions appear to be similar. According to Jeroen Hardenbol, adviser to the employers' organisation on questions related to the single market, the Commission seems mainly to be focusing on simplifying administrative procedures at the expense of the regulatory pillar, which aims to create a better framework for the regulatory mechanisms, particularly as regards the rules on share ownership, insurance and the legal forms of companies, which would be regrettable, he observed.
A card, a regulation and a directive.
According to leaked documents of which EUROPE has had sight, the 'services' card will be made up of two legislative acts: a regulation, laying down minimum requirements relating to the content of the ESC card, and a directive defining governance between the member states.
Here again, this decision has left Hendrickx cold. He expressed surprise at seeing two legislative acts on the table. He told us that a regulation is always the best option to avoid the phenomenon of 'gold-plating', which consists of a layer of national and regional rules on top of the European layer. According to a source close of the dossier, this was the most viable political option in view of the European context, in reference to the forthcoming elections this year in France and Germany in particular.
According to the provisional version of the regulation, the ESC card, which is not expected to be compulsory, will be issued via an electronic platform and a multilingual standard form. Amongst other things, the form will contain information related to: - the identification of the service-provider (legal status, registration number); - the sector of activity; the establishment of the supplier in its country of origin and in other member states; - the 'good repute' of the supplier; - the existence of professional indemnity insurance. The regulation is expected to contain provisions governing the secondment of staff and the movement of independent employees, electronic procedures and fees for issuing the cards. The Commission is planning to revise the regulation 84 months after its entry into force.
As for the directive, which concerns the "governance" pillar, this is expected to define the "effects" generated by the issuance of an ESC card in the host member state, the use of this card, its validity, the eligibility of the services, the time granted to the competent authority of a host member state to process applications for ESC cards or, more generally, the division of roles between host member state and the home member state.
The European Commission seems to have stumbled quite a bit over this legislative draft, up to and including its name, which was originally to be known as the 'Services' passport (see EUROPE 11618). This name was subsequently dropped in order to avoid any confusion. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)