Brussels, 08/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - A new portal has been made available to the businesses of the European Union, to provide practical information about the legislative and administrative procedures in force in all the Member States. An initiative of the European Commission, the portal, known as “Your Europe”, contains all information for the citizens which was already available on the DG Internal Market and its “Dialogue with the Citizens” website. It gives information about issues such as how to start up a business, financial and other types of aid, how to submit a tender for public contracts, employment, social security and expatriate worker legislation and provides market information. The site contains around 1,300 national pages, and new ones are under construction.
To help users, the site offers search areas such as “Employment”, “Consumer Protection” or “Studying in another country of the EU”, which break down into more specific subjects: “How to find a job”, “Opening a bank account”, “Higher Education”, etc. The site posts information about legislation at Community level and in the Member State in question and advice on the procedures to be followed. Links with other Commission advisory and information services are also available (Europe Direct, Citizens' Signpost Services and Solvit). By creating this portal, the Commission intends to make life easier for business, which are faced with many bureaucratic obstacles when they come to decide on the legal structure of a new company, and which have to respect environmental, tax and accounting standards. “The new 'Your Europe' portal is an important step towards EU-wide eGovernment”, said the Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, Günter Verheugen. The Commissioner for the Internal Market, Charlie McCreevy said that this initiative “will play an important part n helping businesspeople and the citizens to take full advantage of the advantages offered by the internal market in terms of employment, business creation and public procurement”. (http: //europa.eu.in/youreurope).