WRITTEN QUESTION E-4098/00

by Toine Manders (ELDR) to the Commission

(10 January 2001)

Subject: Legal framework for providing services across borders

Cross-border activities are increasingly becoming essential. Emergency services such as the police, fire and medical services, and also local authorities, are all working together in practice. But this often occurs without any legal basis and unnecessary difficulties can arise as a result. Many complaints from local government officers, employees and employers have come to my attention on this point.

Matters of this kind can of course be settled in bilateral treaties; but many countries are a long way behind because of the endless toing and froing. For this reason it would improve the operation of the internal market if a legal framework were created at European level, to make it easier to work, do business or provide services across borders.

Is it possible to set up a European legal framework for this purpose, so as to improve the operation of the internal market?

If so, is the Commission prepared to set up a legal framework of this kind, and by when?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(5 March 2001)

The Commission has recently adopted a new strategy to improve the functioning of the Internal Market for Services(1). This Communication, which had been called for by European leaders at the Lisbon European Council, sets out a two year, two stage plan, with the aim of greatly improving the provision of services across borders in the Community.

European statute books are littered with rules that have been developed in a time when services were inherently less easy to trade across borders. Falling costs of information, communication and transport have made cross-border competition in services technically feasible. It is time that regulations and practices in the Community reflected the fact that these new opportunities are available. The current restrictions limit choice and increase prices for private and business customers. This has a deleterious impact on the capacity of the Community economy to create jobs and growth.

The Internal Market Strategy for services recognises the rapidly evolving nature of the services industries. For this reason, it seeks to complement the existing sectoral approach to services with a new horizontal policy. This should create a general enabling framework to allow services to be provided across borders, regardless of which sector a particular company operates in. This mix of the sectoral and the horizontal approach can be seen in the timetable for actions contained in the annex of the strategy.

For 2001, the strategy concentrates on the acceleration of a number of initiatives in specific sectoral areas (such as telecoms, financial services, recognition of qualifications, and marketing). In 2002, the Commission will inform Member States about which barriers they should dismantle unilaterally and will bring forward a legislative proposal containing targeted harmonised rules for service provision (where strictly necessary), as well as setting out all the service activities for which Member States must apply mutual recognition of each others' national rules.

(1) COM(2000) 888 final.