Editor's note

The services sector is regarded as the main engine of the European economy. Its share in the EU-27 block’s GDP is around 75 per cent, and about 70 per cent of total employment is connected to various services in the Union.

At the same time, it is also one of the EU's major untapped sources of additional growth and job creation, as numerous barriers to trade in services remain in the single market. The Services Directive aims to improve the functioning of the Single Market for services through an ambitious programme of administrative and regulatory reform aimed at unleashing the potential of this sector. The Directive commits EU countries to remove unjustified or disproportionate legal and administrative barriers to the setting-up of a business or the provision of cross-border services in the EU. It applies to a broad range of service activities and requirements, including retail, construction, tourism and most regulated professions (such as architects, engineers, lawyers, accountants or surveyors).

It is almost nine months since the Directive has been transposed into the member states legislative framework (since December 2009).

The European Parliament and the Council adopted the Services Directive (Directive 2006/123 /EC of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market) on 12 December 2006.

The EU-27 member states were obliged to transpose the Directive into their national systems by the end of 2009 (on 28 December 2009).

Evaluation process

Already since January 2010, all EU member states (together with the European Commission), have been involved in a peer review process of mutually evaluating certain aspects of their national legal frameworks applicable to service providers.

In particular, at the end of June 2010, the Commission unleashed a consultation procedure to reveal the Directive's implementation process. In fact, the Directive includes this innovative working method, known as the “mutual evaluation process”. Therefore, the Commission invited during two and a half months all interested parties to share their views on most urgent aspects of the Directive in the national legislation which are being discussed by the member states in the "mutual evaluation process".

During the three-year implementation period of the Directive (since it was adopted in 2006), all EU member states were engaged in a thorough analysis of their laws and regulations to ensure their compatibility with the provisions of the Services Directive. This work implied an assessment of the rationale and proportionality of existing rules and, when necessary, their modification or abolition. The Commission acknowledged in June 2010, that implementing the Services Directive proved to be a “particularly challenging endeavour for member states” as it concerned a wide array of laws and regulations at various administrative levels.

As part of the "mutual evaluation process", the Commission is now inviting interested stakeholders to share their analysis and comments on the national measures, which continue to impose certain types of requirements either on the establishment of service providers or on the cross-border provision of their services. The Commission will report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the results of the "mutual evaluation process" and of this consultation to interested parties by the end of 2010. The consultation is open until 13 September 2010.

- Evaluation process can be seen at:

 http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2010/services_directive_en.htm

- The EU Internal market website, at:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/services-dir/guides_en.htm