On Thursday 19 April, the European Commission published a series of best practices to help member states to open up their national retail trade sectors to the rest of Europe. This communication comes with a guide to breathe new life into city centres through small shops and a Retail Restrictiveness Indicator.
The Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for Employment and Growth, Jyrki Katainen, explained that his institution had identified best practices in the member states to reinforce innovation, productivity and competitiveness in the sector, to allow European retail trade to take its place on the international scene. The Commissioner for the Internal Market, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, said that she hoped to draw benefit from online trade.
In its 15-page document, the institution presents best practices in place to facilitate the establishment of retail businesses, for instance by increasing the member states' compliance with the services directive. The institution also gives national examples of reducing restrictions to the day-to-day functioning of shops, for instance in terms of sales promotion, specific sales channels, opening times and other elements. The aim here is to ensure fair competition conditions and to improve supply chains. It presents a series of practices to reduce compliance costs (which still represent up to 6% of the turnover of shops).
City centres
On top of this series of best practices, the Commission has published a guide on reinvigorating city centres through small retail trade. Here again, in a document more than 30 pages long, the institution looks at a series of aspects to revitalise city centres, from reinforcing public digital infrastructure to improving the distribution of information and acquisition of skills.
Restrictiveness Indicator
The Commission has also provided a 'Retail Restrictiveness Indicator' (RRI) which, as its name suggests, takes stock of the degree of openness of the retail trade sector for each member state. The indicator compares the national frameworks for establishing new businesses and operational restrictions. It allows the institution to note that the differences between member states can constitute a factor five.
The countries in which the restrictions are the greatest are Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, but also Germany. In the opposite corner, the member states with the least restrictive legislations are Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Latvia.
To consult the Commission's communication, visit: https://bit.ly/2F0sB0y; for the guide to revitalising city centres: https://bit.ly/2K03ChM . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)