Brussels, 24/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - European ministers responsible for competitiveness policy took stock of the state of progress in preparations for implementation of the internal market services directive on Thursday 24 September. Sweden's Trade Minister Ewa Björling said the directive will benefit both enterprise and citizens. She deplored the results of a survey showing that over 50% of Swedish SMEs are unaware of the existence of the internal market, and highlighted the conclusions on improving the way the internal market works, adopted on Thursday by the Competitiveness Council.
During lunch, the European Commission took stock of transposition of the “services” directive in member states. A document forwarded to the delegations focuses on two emblematic provisions: - the compulsory review of national rules, mainly concerning the crossborder provision of services; - and the creation of one stop shops where companies are able to accomplish all their administrative business. “It would appear that, in some member states, political commitment for complete implementation according to schedule has unfortunately not taken the shape of appropriate action”, the Commission deplores. Review of national legislation is complete “in a large majority of member states”, the Commission welcomes, while expressing earnest concern about the lack of results from a “small group” of countries. Concerning the setting up of one-stop shops, France and Portugal are currently testing their structure in certain sectors, the profession of architect and the real-estate sector for Paris and the tourism sector for Lisbon. The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Estonia are cooperating in order to ensure that their respective national desks operate on a crossborder basis. Nonetheless, in a minority of member states, the practical work of setting the one stop shop in place seems not to have started yet, the Commission states. It also underlines the importance of the Internal Market Information (IMI) system which, after a first running-in stage, seems to have made “significant progress”, with 1,209 local authorities registered with major differences according to the country, 60% of these authorities being located in the member states (Netherlands, Germany and Czech Republic). It is the Austrians, Czechs and Dutch who, at this stage, have sent the largest number of requests to the IMI. (M.B./transl.jl)