Brussels, 28/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The delays in transposing the Community legislation in the Member States remain significant, according to the last twice-yearly single market "scoreboard", published on Monday by the European Commission: 11% of legislation adopted has still not been implemented by the Member States within the given time, according to this document, which will be presented on Thursday to the Internal Market Council. The average deficit in transposition has been reduced to 2.5% from 3% six months ago, but only three Member States respect the undertaking made during the Lisbon Summit, to transpose 98.5% of the Community legislation before 2002: Sweden, Denmark and Finland. On the other hand, in decreasing order: Greece, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Austria and Germany risk missing the target for 98.5% implementation in March 2002, notes Commissioner Frits Bolkestein. France should not meet this target before 2003, Germany before 2004 and Ireland before 2006, estimates the Commission.
The scores of Austria and the United Kingdom have worsened, while Portugal, Luxembourg and Sweden have improved their results. It is also necessary to note the case of Portugal, which has improved by 38% its performance over six months, notes Gerard de Graaf, Head of Unit at the Directorate General Internal Market, when seeing in the results a political priority and the nomination of a head responsible for the follow-up of the legislative process.
Certain sectors are worse than others: 30% of legislation on transport has not been implemented in all the Member States, while this percentage is 7.1% in the environmental sector and 2.5% for the internal market Directives. Germany, Belgium and Spain record failings above 10% in the sector of the environment. This result is saddening when we know that the Gothenburg European Council is on the verge of defining a European strategy for sustainable development notes the Commission in its Communiqué. According to Gerard de Graaf, these delays are explained by the very large number of Directives recently adopted in the field of transport, or in other cases such as the for public procurement, by the politically sensitive nature of the issue for certain national ministries. Moreover, certain States chose to attach national measures to the Community Directive, which can further complicate the adopting of the text, notes the European civil servant.
Consequence of these delays: the Commission is presently handling 1,800 cases of infringements for failure to comply with internal market rules, or 7% more than six months ago. Large shares of these cases concern France (254), Italy (251) and Spain (208). Finland and Denmark often resolve the problem before the end of the legal proceedings, while Greece, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, manage to complete the procedure in two thirds of the cases.
To remedy these delays, the Commission has little means for placing pressure, other than referral to the Court of Justice. However, the aim of the scoreboard is to ensure greater transparency and encourage "judgement by peers", comments Gerard de Graaf, when hoping for a spread of "best practices" such as the nomination of a head, formula chosen by Portugal.
Price of a television may vary 40% from one Member State to another
according to investigation into prices
Exceptionally, the Commission presented, at the same time as its scoreboard, the first results of an investigation into price differences within the single market in two test sectors: fresh foodstuffs and electronics. The price of a television or a DVD player may sometimes vary 40% from one Member State to another, and the price difference for foodstuffs may vary from 1 to 3, notes the Commission in its Communiqué. However, no country has systematically the best market or the most expensive: globally, Spain remains the cheapest country for foodstuffs, and Sweden and Denmark among the most expensive. Though, when we look at the details, we see: Germany is cheaper for pork chops, but expensive for tomatoes, Italy is cheap for cod, but expensive for cheese, etc. Germany has the best prices for electronics, and Spain, Denmark, France and Sweden the worst. Certain types of televisions, such as a 63cm Phillips, are nevertheless cheaper in Sweden than elsewhere… European consumers would be able to make 12% savings on average if they bought each product at the lowest price found in the EU, feels the Commission. The investigation should specify the causes for these price differences: VAT, limited marketing campaigns, barriers to distribution, vertical restrictions, onerous procedures for the granting of licences and assessment of conformity, etc. The scoreboard and the results of the investigation will be available on: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market.