On 29 May, ministers at the Competitiveness Council adopted two general approaches on the European Commission proposal to introduce proportionality tests for regulated professions and the modernisation of notification procedures in keeping with the “services” directive.
At the beginning of the year, the European Commission presented a range of initiatives to improve the “functioning” of the internal market for service providers that want to set up in other member states (see EUROPE 11700). In connection with these proposals, the Commission submitted a draft directive to introduce proportionality “tests” for national rules on the regulated professions (engineers, architects, etc.) and another directive proposing the modernisation of the system for notifying draft national laws on services.
During the debate held in the morning, the majority of ministers and member state representatives expressed their satisfaction with the re-balancing introduced by the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU and its positive ramifications at a national level. Austria, Germany and Luxembourg have been involved in certain manoeuvring in this regard.
The draft revision of the reporting procedure was subject to particularly difficult national debates and the German, Austrian and French expressed concerns about respect for the subsidiarity principle. It should be pointed out that the European Commission project sought to reverse the chronology by making notification obligatory before the adoption of a draft law. Notification is currently carried out at a national level after adoption. It also sought to extend the obligation of notification to the scope of the services directive as a whole and where derogations currently dominate. Finally, the member states gave approval for setting the procedure ahead of the vote at a national level but not with regard to the entire scope of the services directive.
The fundamental changes introduced by the Maltese Presidency also include: the scrapping of the obligation for member states to notify parliamentary amendments; excluding notification for insurance requirements and restricting the scope for the Commission’s decision making to the freedom of establishment.
The member states maintained and even improved other aspects of the Commission proposal, such as the obligation incumbent on member states to notify the Commission about the draft law three months before, at the latest and the Commission having the opportunity to demand reasons from the state as to why the draft law in question does not comply with European rules.
The draft directive on the proportionality test only provoked a few misgivings and appears to have obtained unanimity among the member state at the Council. Even Germany, which initially wanted a non-binding proposal instead of the directive, gave its backing. In this regard, the proportionality criteria were amended by the member states and the principle of cumulative analysis, which would include the current legal and new text, was rejected according to one diplomatic source.
Electronic “services” card is keeping us waiting. The draft services card is not going to be on the ministers’ table today. This is because the text is particularly controversial at the Council, as it is regarded as letting in the principle of the country of origin by the backdoor (see EUROPE 11730). Étienne Schneider, the Luxembourg Vice Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy informed journalists that he was quite clearly against the project, which he considered pointless because it was too ambitious. He even said that he wanted it scrapped. During a press conference, the Commissioner for the internal market, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, acknowledged that they needed a clear explanation from the European Commission for member states regarding the project. Nonetheless, the Commissioner very much hopes that the project will be adopted.
The European Parliament is also not that far behind but has not yet reached a position on the two texts. According to our sources, it is is expected to do so after the summer and certainly by the autumn. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)