Brussels, 31/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - Last week, the Commission adopted a communication on the common position of the Council on the directive on services in the internal market (see EUROPE 9238), under the co-decision procedure. Stating that the common position keeps in place the essential elements of its modified proposal and those of the European Parliament's amendments (see EUROPE 9133 and 9167), the Commission approves the text as a whole, and various amendments made to it. This reaction, which came almost immediately to the common position, bears witness to the desire of the European institutions to adopt the future directive definitively and as quickly as possible, before the end of 2006.
According to the communication, the common position of the Council on the exclusions from the scope of application of the directive "respect the political agreement" obtained by the European Parliament and taken up in the modified proposal of the Commission. The common position indicates "even more clearly" that the directive does not apply to services of general interest with no economic dimension to them, it specifies that "the exclusion of audiovisual services also covers cinematographic services" and it stipulates "more clearly that services provided by charity associations are also covered by the exclusion" for social services. The Commission also accepts the exclusion added by the Council concerning "services provided by notaries and bailiffs appointed by an official act of the public authorities". "The common position confirms that the directive does not impinge upon the rules under international private law", the Commission notes, "including rules guaranteeing that consumers enjoy the protection granted to them by the rules of protection (...) in force under the legislation of their Member State".
Concerning the freedom of establishment of the services provider, the Commission agrees with the Council's modifications whereby, during authorisation proceedings, "the Member States are authorised to extend the response time when this is justified by the complexity of the dossier, and as long as it duly informs the applicant, notifying the duration for and reasons behind this extension". It also agrees with the Council that "decisions granting authorisation do not need to be reasoned and cannot be challenged before the courts". Putting insurance cover and financial guarantees on the same footing is also acceptable to the Commission: "the Member States may still impose one or the other, as long as they are not obliged to be underwritten with a service provider established on their own territory". Furthermore, the Council's modifications on the assessment process for requirements for the establishment of a provider of services of general economic interest (SGEI) "should answer the concerns of the European Parliament".
According to the communication, the common position of the Council "fully reflects" the EP's amendments incorporated in the modified proposal of the Commission concerning the cross-border provision of services and derogations to this. The principle of the freedom to provide services removes, amongst other things, the principle of country of origin. On this point, the only thing to mention is the Commission's acceptance of the "slight change in wording" concerning the "transfer of waste", SGEIs are included in the directive but excluded from provisions on the cross-border provision of services. In particular, the Commission takes the view that the new screening mechanism for national restrictions to the cross-border provision of services will improve "transparency and legal security for the economic operators".
On the subject of administrative simplification, the Commission notes that the common position respects the EP's provisions which it took up in its modified proposal on the simplification of proceedings, the one-stop shop and the right to information. It has allowed the Council to extend "the possibility of applying the non-electronic procedures to cases in which it is necessary to check the personal identity of the service-provider or members of his or her staff". Lastly, the extension from two to three years of the time available to implement the directive, called for by the Council and the EP, "is acceptable to the Commission".