ip/98/952
Brussels, 3 November 1998
Single Market: Scoreboard reveals steady improvement
The European Commission, the EU's Council of Ministers and the European Parliament have met two thirds of their commitments under the June 1997 Single Market Action Plan, according to the latest issue of the Scoreboard. In particular, Member States have achieved steady progress on implementing Single Market legislation, with the percentage of Directives not yet applied by all Member States falling to 14.9% compared to 26.7% in November 1997. However, some Member States have fallen behind (Luxembourg, Ireland and Portugal) and Member States with a poor record on implementing Directives also tend to be subject to most infringement procedures for poor application of the rules in practice. Acceleration of infringement procedures has resulted in a substantial increase in number of new cases opened. Free movement of goods is the area with the highest number of infringement cases, but cases concerning transport, taxation, services and establishment are the most difficult to resolve. A survey of over 4000 businessmen interviewed in September indicates that the most companies are benefiting from the Single Market but that trade barriers are broadly similar to those a year ago (standards, VAT, state aids).
"The transparency introduced by the Scoreboard is proving to be a useful tool for highlighting where Single Market problems persist and for encouraging Member States to rectify these problems", commented Single Market Commissioner Mario Monti. "The latest issue of the Scoreboard confirms that we will have to continue to focus our efforts on ensuring Single Market rules are applied in practice through enforcement and raising awareness, on removing remaining obstacles and on tackling market distortions".
Action Plan
The June 1997 Action Plan can already be counted as a success. Forty individual actions have already been delivered, including:
The effects of the Action Plan, which comes to a close at the end of the year, will not all be felt immediately by citizens and businesses. This is particularly the case of proposals yet to be adopted or Directives yet to implemented in national law. Other actions are lagging behind. However, the Action Plan has laid the groundwork for a stronger Single Market in which citizens and businesses will be better able to take advantage of the opportunities opened up by the single currency.
Implementation
Progress in implementing Directives has been encouraging but variable. Some Member States - Finland, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands - continue to perform well. Others Austria, Germany and Belgium have improved their record. However, those with a static performance, namely Luxembourg, Ireland and Portugal, have now fallen behind. As of 15 October there remained 203 Directives not yet implemented by one or more Member States. Luxembourg and Ireland have for example 100 and 96 Directives yet to be notified. While almost all Member States have speeded up implementation of new Directives, the average delay of notification is still in excess of 12 months. Moreover, it is now clear that it is unlikely that all outstanding Directives will be implemented before the end of 1998.
Comparison of Member States' implementation deficits (% rate of Single Market Directives not yet notified to the Commission)
|
L | IRL | I | P | F | EL | B | A | UK | E | D | NL | DK | S | FIN | EU | |
| Oct. 98 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 14.9 |
| May 98 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 7.1 | 5.2 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 5.4 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2 | 1.2 | 18.2 |
| Nov 97 | 6.5 | 5.4 | 7.6 | 5.9 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 10.1 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 8.5 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 6.2 | 4.3 | 26.7 |
Most implementation difficulties occur in the areas of telecommunications, public procurement and transport.
Non-implemented Directives - breakdown by area and Member State 15.10.98
|
% | B | DK | D | EL | E | F | IRL | I | L | NL | A | P | FIN | S | UK | |
| Telecommunications (15) | 66.7 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ||||||
| Public Procurement (10) | 60.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||
| Transport (48) | 52.1 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Intellectual and industrial property (7) | 42.9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Social Policy (38) | 26.3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 2 | |||||
| Chemical products (74) | 21.6 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2 | |
| Veterinary checks (193) | 18.1 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 23 | 14 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 17 | 17 | 2 | 6 | 13 |
| Environment (92) | 17.4 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Cosmetic products (38) | 15.8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Food legislation (101) | 14.8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Capital goods (99) | 12.1 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Motor Vehicles (146) | 8.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | ||
| Plant-health checks (172) | 6.4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | |
| TOTAL | 64 | 20 | 33 | 64 | 32 | 67 | 76 | 74 | 80 | 26 | 55 | 74 | 12 | 18 | 50 |
Enforcement
One effect of improvements introduced to the Commission's handling of infringement procedures has been a noticeable increase in the number of infringements compared to the previous issues of the Scoreboard. This is largely because the Commission now tends to send Member States a letter of formal notice (first stage of the infringement procedure under Article 169 of the EC Treaty) rather than an informal request for information. The distribution of infringements between Member States is very uneven. Moreover, several Member States that are most often late in implementing Directives (France, Italy, Belgium and Greece) also have the highest share of infringement cases for incorrect implementation and failure to apply Single Market rules.
|
B | DK | D | E | EL | F | IRL | I | L | NL | A | P | FIN | S | UK | EU | ||
| Letters of formal
notice | 9.97-9.98
3.97-3.98 | 34
22 | 8
8 | 42
45 | 36
45 | 37
24 | 78
70 | 9
9 | 60
50 | 9
7 | 15
17 | 24
22 | 19
25 | 16
14 | 17
17 | 25
17 | 429
395 |
| Reasoned opinions | 9.97-9.98
3.97-3.98 | 25
19 | 3
1 | 17
10 | 15
13 | 12
9 | 45
30 | 5
5 | 31
16 | 7
3 | 9
7 | 10
4 | 19
13 | 2
0 | 5
2 | 14
8 | 219
140 |
| Cases referred to the European Court of Justice | 9.97-9.98
3.97-3.98 | 8
6 | 0
0 | 3
6 | 3
5 | 7
2 | 13
6 | 1
1 | 2
6 | 1
1 | 3
2 | 2
0 | 4
2 | 0
0 | 0
0 | 1
1 | 48
38 |
| Judgements of European Court of Justice | 9.97-9.98
3.97-3.98 | 9
6 | 0
0 | 6
7 | 6
3 | 5
4 | 5
9 | 0
1 |
8 9 | 2
0 | 1
1 | 0
0 | 5
0 | 0
0 | 0
0 | 0
1 | 47
41 |
Infringement procedures concerning the free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment account for half the total number of Single Market infringements. Most infringement cases are resolved before being referred to the Court of Justice. However, cases in the areas of transport, taxation, services and establishment are the most difficult to resolve and so are most often referred to the Court, which implies that it is in these areas that the application of Community law is most controversial.
|
Letters of formal notice | Reasoned opinions | Cases referred
to Court of Justice | Ratio: referrals/
letters of formal notice | Rulings of the Court of
Justice | |
| Free movement of goods | 116 | 53 | 2 | 1.7 | 20 |
| Free movement of services and establishment | 88 | 62 | 18 | 20.4 | 6 |
| Establishment and provision of services | 50 | 34 | 11 | 22.0 | 3 |
| Transport | 11 | 27 | 7 | 63.6 | 3 |
| Telecommunications | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Free movement of people | 68 | 24 | 6 | 8.8 | 5 |
| Environment | 55 | 35 | 10 | 18.2 | 9 |
| Public procurement | 52 | 24 | 2 | 3.8 | 1 |
| Taxation | 37 | 17 | 10 | 27.0 | 6 |
| Consumers | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Intellectual and commercial property | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Total | 429 | 219 | 48 | 11.2 | 47 |
It is essential that Single Market rules are not only put in place, but applied properly. A number of mechanisms have been set up recently to enable Member States to channel feedback to the Commission and exchange information regarding problems arising in the day-to-day functioning of the Single Market. The Scoreboard features information from these mechanisms, namely the co-ordination centres and contact points for citizens and business set up under the Action Plan, the application of Decision 3052/95, which obliges Member States to notify measures taken in derogation to the principle of mutual recognition (see IP/97/3) and the application of Directive 92/56 regarding the exchange of information with regard to products considered dangerous to the consumer.
All these mechanisms confirm that most commonly reported Single Market obstacles concern imposition of national specifications and standards, testing and certification and the absence of mutual recognition of different national specifications. These findings closely mirror the views of companies reported in the business survey.
Business survey
The results of an opinion poll of more than 4000 business executives carried out for the Scoreboard in September 1998 reveals that the vast majority of companies, large and small, are participating actively in the Single Market by buying, selling and manufacturing in other Member States (see MEMO/98/ ). Most companies consider the Single Market has had a positive effect on their business over the last 2 years, and a small majority of large companies consider that trade barriers are decreasing. However, companies identified a considerable range of trade barriers that continue to prevent them realising the full benefits of the Single Market and two thirds of companies did not attempt to challenge these barriers.
The full text of the Scoreboard may be downloaded from the Internet via the Europa World Wide Web site: http://ec.europa.eu/dg15
