Brussels, 27/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - In a report published last Friday, the European Commission drew a positive assessment of the procedure of prior notification, by the Member States, of draft national regulations in the fields of online products and services. This system, which is presently based on Directive 98/34/EC, has been applied for close to twenty years to national regulations on products. It was extended to information society services by Directive 98/48/EC. The report casts light on the crucial role played by the notification procedure between 1999 and 2001 in order to avoid the creation of barriers to the free movement of products and services.
Given the directives cited above, the Member States have the obligation to notify to the Commission of national draft technical regulations relating to all products, as well as national drafts specifically targeting information society services. Thus the drafts notified cannot be adopted at the national level for three months, extended to six months (four months for online services) if the Commission or one of the Member States issues an unfavourable opinion, known as a 'detailed opinion.'
The report notes that, between 1999 and 2001, the Commission received more than 1,800 notifications covering various fields, including foodstuffs and agricultural products, telecommunications, transport, buildings and construction, for the product sector, and electronic signatures, electronic commerce, data protection, digital television or domain names, for the service sector. The permanent dialogue instituted between the Commission and national authorities, as well as between the Member States themselves, has seen itself enacted through more than 1,100 observations for all the drafts notified between 1999 and 2001. The Commission reacted through detailed opinions in more than 150 cases, while the Member States put across their concerns through detailed opinions on more than 400 occasions. Thanks to the use of this procedure, the Member States withdrew or modified their drafts in a satisfactory manner in nearly all the cases, notes the Commission. Only two cases lead to the opening of an infringement procedure, following the adoption of a text that the Commission considered contrary to Community law. For the latter, these figures prove the positive role of the information procedure established by the 'notifications' Directive. The Commission is now studying the possibility of widening the scope of the Directive to other services 'beyond online activities' and underlines that the procedures should be brought to apply in the widest manner possible in view of preparing enlargement. Agreements aimed organising the participation of candidate countries in the procedure during the period preceding their accession are presently under preparation.