Bruno Schnitzer.
Date: 2003-12-11
27.  The third paragraph of Article 50 EC states that the person providing a service may, in order to do so, temporarily pursue his activity in the Member State where the service is provided, under the same conditions as are imposed by that State on its own nationals. In so far as pursuit of the activity in that Member State remains temporary, such a person thus continues to come under the provisions of the chapter relating to services.
28.  The Court has held that the temporary nature of the activity of the person providing the service in the host Member State has to be determined in the light not only of the duration of the provision of the service but also of its regularity, periodical nature or continuity. The fact that the activity is temporary does not mean that the provider of services within the meaning of the Treaty may not equip himself with some form of infrastructure in the host Member State (including an office, chambers or consulting rooms) in so far as such infrastructure is necessary for the purposes of performing the services in question (Case C-55/94   Gebhard   [1995] ECR I-4165, paragraph 27, and Case C-131/01   Commission   v   Italy   [2003] ECR I-1659, paragraph 22).
29.  The Court has distinguished that situation from that of a Member State national who pursues a professional activity on a stable and continuous basis in another Member State where he holds himself out from an established professional base to, amongst others, nationals of that Member State. The Court has drawn the conclusion that such a national comes under the provisions of the chapter relating to the right of establishment and not those of the chapter relating to services (see   Gebhard  , cited above, paragraph 28).
30.  Thus,   "services"   within the meaning of the Treaty may cover services varying widely in nature, including services which are provided over an extended period, even over several years, where, for example, the services in question are supplied in connection with the construction of a large building. Services within the meaning of the Treaty may likewise be constituted by services which a business established in a Member State supplies with a greater or lesser degree of frequency or regularity, even over an extended period, to persons established in one or more other Member States, for example the giving of advice or information for remuneration.
31.  No provision of the Treaty affords a means of determining, in an abstract manner, the duration or frequency beyond which the supply of a service or of a certain type of service in another Member State can no longer be regarded as the provision of services within the meaning of the Treaty.
32.  It follows that the mere fact that a business established in one Member State supplies identical or similar services with a greater or lesser degree of frequency or regularity in a second Member State, without having an infrastructure there enabling it to pursue a professional activity there on a stable and continuous basis and, from the infrastructure, to hold itself out to, amongst others, nationals of the second Member State, is not sufficient for it to be regarded as established in the second Member State.
34.  So far as concerns entry on the trades register, the Court has held that the requirement imposed on an undertaking established in one Member State which wishes, as a provider of a service, to carry on a skilled trade activity in another Member State to be entered on the latter's trades register constitutes a restriction within the meaning of Article 49 EC (Corsten  , paragraph 34).
35.  While a restriction on freedom to provide services may admittedly be justified by overriding requirements relating to the public interest, such as the objective of guaranteeing the quality of skilled trade work and of protecting those who have commissioned such work, the application of national rules to providers of services established in other Member States must be appropriate for securing attainment of the objective which they pursue and must not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it (Corsten  , paragraph 39).
36.  In consequence, the authorisation procedure set up by the host Member State must neither delay nor complicate exercise of the right of persons established in another Member State to provide their services on the territory of the first State if examination of the conditions governing access to the activities concerned has been carried out and it has been established that those conditions are satisfied (Corsten  , paragraph 47).