Brussels, 22/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The report by the European Commission on the liberal professions was far from unanimously well received by representatives of the sectors it examines. The report, which was adopted in early September, paints a disappointing picture of progress on reforms carried out by the Member States to get rid of rules and regulations the Commission believes are anti-competitive (EUROPE 9020). There are still too many of these restrictions, which often lack objective justification, states the Commission, summarising efforts undertaken in the Member States. Although not all bodies representing these professions at EU level have adopted a formal stance, many of them have voiced reservations on the conclusions of the report or the validity of some of the information gathered, and some of them are challenging the purely economic analysis carried out by the Commission. Consumer associations, on the other hand, are defending an approach which aims to offer more choice to consumers, whilst protecting them adequately.
Legal professionals are "not happy" with the report on two counts, Jonathan Goldsmith, Secretary General of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the EEC (CCBE) told EUROPE, summarising a general feeling, which is set to feed into a more detailed official position in November. The CCBE has withdrawn a number of criticisms levelled at the first report, which was published in 2004 (EUROPE 8641), which criticises the Commission for its purely economic approach and a certain bias in its conclusions, amongst other things. Mr Goldsmith also "completely disagrees" with the conclusions the Commission draws from the definition of the general interest in order to justify better-targeted and differentiated regulations on the professional services, depending on who is using them. Mr Goldsmith is opposed to the distinction between "occasional users" (individuals and households, according to the Commission), and the "principal uses of professional services" (business and the public sector), because he feels that it is not at all clear that the latter "are better able to do without regulatory protection, as they are better placed to choose service providers able to respond to their needs" (as the Commission contends). Andrea Carta, representative of the Italian Bar to Brussels, who also refutes this argument, highlighted legal professionals' commitment to the "principle of unity of the profession", rather than to a differentiation of qualifications asked for, which may prove prejudicial and even lead to abuse. In Italy, "the Parliament, the bar and the profession are asking what needs to be done and there are plans under way on access, training and publicity", he said, whilst conceding that this process "will take time" (to the great regret of the Commission).
"Carrying out public functions should be considered as a separate case in the context of European competition law", said the president of the Conference of Notaries of the European Union (CNEU), Paolo Piccoli, who stresses in a press release that "in order to ensure that everybody can benefit from a high quality notary service, a regulatory framework is essential". Mr Piccoli is calling for greater coherence between the policies of the EU, noting: "the competition policy must take greater account than previously of the policy provided for by The Hague Programme for liberty, security and justice". In the view of the Commission, removing unjustified restrictive rules could help to improve, in fine, the freedom of establishment for service providers and the cross-border provision of services between Member States, but in the view of the CNEU, "it is the correct functioning of the legal system (...) which constitutes the basic condition to guarantee the attractiveness of a site for companies to establish themselves in and a high level of investment".
The pharmacists, who are represented by the PGEU (Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union), also emphasised that a certain number of restrictions is inherent in the field of public health, in order to protect the citizen. Although the Group will not necessarily put together a common position, it intends to ask its members to "analyse the communication and the working document accompanying it to verify that all information is correct, because our French delegation has already pointed out several mistakes in information pertaining to France", said Rebecca Taylor.
The European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI) is to examine the Commission's report at its General Assembly next week, according to its Secretary General, Philippe Wauters.
The European Consumers' Association (BEUC), on the other hand, supports the Commission's approach. Dominique Forest, an economic adviser with the BEUC, stressed the need for proportionality between the rules and objectives in question. Although restrictions undoubtedly need to be lifted in order to offer "more choice to the consumers", these latter sometimes find themselves in "positions of weakness", and certain rules remain necessary in order to protect them, said Mr Forest.