Brussels, 16/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is launching a consultation process that will last until 15 June. This will be on-line and will look at its policy in the area of the internal market. It will be open to European citizens, companies, the academic world and the public authorities. The consultation document explores five areas in which the reaction of the different parties is called for: enhancing innovation, improving the regulatory framework, implementation of controls and increase in the number of them, the international context, information to citizens and companies. To help reflection, the Commission will carry out two Eurobarometer investigations on citizens and companies' perceptions of the internal market. It will also organise a specific public hearing on 12 September.
The Commission assessed the “important benefits” of the internal market in increasing EU Gross Domestic Product by 1.8% between 1992 and 2002 and creating 2.5 million jobs. It points out that progress has to be made in the following areas: “services, wholesale financial services, public procurement, transport, energy and telecommunications”. It added that, “governments had begun to question cross-border mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the so-called 'sensitive' areas. Such protectionist attitudes threaten the very foundations of the internal market”. The Commission also said that “globalisation and technological developments” required a rethinking of the economic, social systems and how regulation functioned.
Future internal market priorities identified by the Commission include “intellectual property rights systems”. According to the Commission, “the creation of a Community patent should also help to strongly reduce the costs linked to obtaining patent protection”. On the subject of copyright and neighbours' rights, the Commission believes the granting of licences on an essentially territorial basis “puts a significant brake on the development of available cross-border innovative on-line services”. The Commission is also preparing a communication on “questions linked to finance for SMEs” (EUROPE 9178). It is consulting the different interested parties on “voluntary standards” for provision of services.
With the aim of implementing internal market rules, the Commission is highlighting the need for the “active cooperation of Member States”, particularly through the creation of an “information system on the internal market” (IMI). It added that it would be beneficial to define more clear and visible responsibilities in each Member State and “enhance the influence of the EU in international standards organisations for intellectual property, public procurement, accounting standards and banking capital requirements”.