Council Resolution of 28 October 1999 on mutual recognition
Date: 1999-10-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: administrative cooperation, data collection, mutual recognition principle, public awareness campaign

19.5.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 141/5

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 28 October 1999

on mutual recognition

(2000/C 141/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. RECALLING the objectives of the Treaty establishing the
European Community, particularly the free movement of
freedom of establishment,
goods, persons and services,
the public
consumer protection, and the protection of
health and the environment;

2. RECALLING its Conclusions of 30 March 1998 on mutual

recognition;

electrical engineering, construction products and motor
vehicles), services sector (for example, financial services)
and professional qualifications (for example, recognition
of diplomas);

10. TAKES NOTE that economic operators and citizens do not
always make full and proper use of the mutual recognition
because they are not sufficiently aware of the principle and
its operational consequences;

3. WELCOMING the Commission’s communication on mutual
recognition in the context of the follow-up to the action
plan for the single market and the Commission’s first
biennial report
the principle of
(cid:145)On the application of
mutual recognition in product and services markets(cid:146);

11. TAKES NOTE that in some cases economic operators and
citizens may refrain from relying on mutual recognition
that
since
for
feel
they
administrative procedures
obtaining mutual
recognition are too burdensome or
difficult;

4. EMPHASISING that

the mutual recognition principle has
made positive contributions to the free movement of
goods and services
in many cases and has brought
the single
important benefits
market, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises;

the functioning of

for

5. ACKNOWLEDGING that the application of the principle of
mutual recognition of goods and services is primarily the
responsibility of
the
Commission is the guardian of the proper application of
the principle;

the Member

and that

States

of

6. CONSIDERING that there is a need for a coherent combi-
nation
standardisation,
instruments for conformity assessment, such as accredi-
tation, and mutual recognition to ensure the proper func-
tioning of the single market;

harmonised

legislation,

7. EMPHASING the need for proper application of
principle of mutual recognition in the context of
enlargement of the Union;

the
the

8. EMPHASISING the importance of mutual recognition also in
the context of the World Trade Organisation and the new
round of international trade negotiations;

12. TAKES NOTE, furthermore, that administrations in Member
States may in some cases have problems in applying
mutual recognition effectively for reasons of insufficient
legislation and
information about other Members States’
verification procedures or
lack of
knowledge about practical application of the principle;

reasons of

for

13. UNDERLINES that more extensive information, especially on
the economic aspects, may be needed in order to assess
accurately the effects of application and non-application of
the mutual recognition principle;

14. CALLS UPON the Member States to continue to develop
appropriate measures,
in order
to provide economic operators and citizens with an
effective framework for mutual recognition:

including the following,

(a) review and simplify the relevant national legislation and
for example, by inserting
its application procedures,
appropriate mutual
in relevant
legislative proposals and improving national procedures
for applying efficiently these clauses;

recognition clauses

9. DRAWS attention to the need for further efforts to improve
the application of
the principle of mutual recognition.
Particular consideration must be given to problems in
some ares of the goods sector (for example, foodstuffs,

(b) deal effectively with requests from economic operators
and citizens, reply rapidly to those requests, ensure that
legal complaint mechanisms operate appropriately and
strengthen the non-judicial problem-solving mech-
anisms, including administrative cooperation;

C 141/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

19.5.2000

(c) increase the awareness of citizens and economic
operators of their rights concerning mutual recognition
and reinforce the dialogue with citizens and economic
operators in order to receive information from them on
the functioning and non-functioning of mutual recog-
nition by using
established problem-solving
framework;

the

(d) support the Commission in its activities for collecting
information on those sectors where mutual recognition
constitutes a problem for their industry or service
providers when transferring goods or
to
other Member States;

services

(e) ensure that

the information exchange obligations,
which are addressed to the Member States, set out in
Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC,
and Decision No 3052/95/EC are fully and effectively
implemented in order to identify and prevent technical
barriers to trade in national legislation;

(f) give special attention to the importance of

further
developing and extending the use of mutual recog-
nition of all conformity assessment procedures, such
as
inspection reports, certificates and
conformity marks.

reports,

test

15. INVITES the Commission to continue its efforts to collect
data from the Member States authorities, business and
consumers’ representatives and other interest groups on
successes and shortcomings in the field of mutual recog-
nition and their economic impact and to include such data
in the biennial
the single markt
reports as well as
scoreboard and carry out in cooperation with economic
operators and the Member States studies relating to equiv-
alence of conformity in sectors where mutal recognition
applies and identify methodologies which would facilitate
national authorities to assess the equivalence of the degrees
of protection;

16. INVITES the Commission to take the appropriate measures
and initiatives in order to improve the application of the
mutual recognition principle, such as:

(a) increase the awareness of citizens and economic
rights concerning the principle

operators of

their

for example, active information campaigns,
through,
guidebooks and brochures and develop the existing
feedback instruments in order to receive information
from economic operators and citizens;

(b) rely, as much as possible, on administrative cooperation
and pursue rigorously its activities aiming at bringing
to an end infringements of
the
recognition, using the powers
principle of mutual
in the
in particular
given to it by the Treaty,
framework of Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by
Directive 98/48/EC, and Decision No 3052/95/EC;

the application of

(c) ensure that policies in the field of mutual recognition
are co-ordinated with other Community policies and
consider all available instruments, such as harmonised
legislation mutual recognition, conformity assessment
and standardisation;

(d) establish concrete and practical guidelines on the
proper application of the mutual recognition in the
field of goods, services and professional qualifictions;

(e) use the single market

the
successes and shortcomings in the field of mutual
recognition.

scoreboard to present

17. ENCOURAGES economic operators and citizens to make full

use of the mutual recognition principle by:

(a) availing themselves of
mutual recognition;

their

right

to benefit

from

(b) informing Member States and the Commission of any
problems they encounter and using legal procedures
available
and Community legislation,
where necessary;

in national

(c) using information material provided by the Member

States and the Commission.

18. RESOLVES TO REVIEW the implementation of this resolution
by the end of the year 2001 on the basis of the biennial
report and the successive editions of
the scoreboard
produced by the Commission and decide on further
action, if necessary.