VERA – Forward Visions on the European Research Area

VERA is funded by the European Union's FP7 programme for research,
technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 290705

Single Market Act

Code: A05

Primary project information

Lead: European Commission
Additional project partners: European Institutions, Member States andstakeholders
Type of activity: Action Plan to relaunch growth and strengthen confidence
Date conducted: Beginn: 5/2010. By the end of 2012, a new stage in the development of the Single Market will be launched.
Date of Publication: 13.04.2011
Duration: 1.5 YEARS
Summary: Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence are addressed: Access to finance for SMEs, mobility for citizens, intellectual property rights, consumer empowerment, services, networks, the digital single market, social entrepreneurship, taxation, social cohesion, business environment and public procurement.
Financed by: EU
Budget: N/A
Research area/market/industry/sector: The Single Market of the European Union is the common area between the 27 EU countries where goods, services, capital and persons can circulate freely. The Single Market also ensures that European citizens are free to live, work, study and do business where they want in the EU.
Main report (full title): COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS - Single Market Act - "Working together to create new growth" - COM (2011) 206 final

GRAND CHALLENGES

Economic Challenges: facilitate the creation and development of small and microenterprises, smart regulation, cutting red tape [5], facilitating access to funding for rapidly expanding SMEs [6], create a quality label for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) to facilitate the development of a network [7], facility management services & services standardisation should be developed at European level, taking full account of market needs [11], setting up onestop shops for taxation, social or environmental objectives as part of their daily activities, abolishing cross-border tax obstacles for citizens, binding mechanism for disputes relating to double taxation, the creation of one-stop contact points for access to authorities and the tax treatment of cross-border successions [16]
Economic Challenges Shortlist: Facilitate creation and development of small and microenterprises; Create quality label for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID); Improve cross border tax regulations for individuals and businesses
Societal Challenges: development of a competitive services-based society [5], to establish simple, fast and affordable out-of-court settlement procedures for consumers and protect relations between businesses and their customers [9]
Societal Challenges Shortlist: development of a competitive services-based society
Technical Challenges: Digital Single Market: strengthening their trust in the application of their rights is paramount [10], need for a standardisation system to enable standards to be adopted rapidly and to be adapted to new technologies (not least in the area of information and communication technologies ; cross cutting issue) [11], to make secure, seamless electronic interaction possible between businesses, citizens and public authorities – needed: trusted electronic services that respect privacy, provide legal certainty, ensure that transactions are secure, work across borders and are recognised by all sectors of activity, but which are cheap and easy to use and which are under the strict control of the transaction parties [13], simplify the use of e-signature - provide for the mutual recognition of electronic identification and authentication services, voice and data transmission [13], micro-payments, security of on-line payments, personal-data protection, the fight against counterfeiting, order delivery, liability of service providers on the internet and consistency of EU law affecting electronic commerce [14]
Technical Challenges Shortlist: Enable secure, seamless electronic interaction between businesses, citizens and public authorities; Provide electronic services that respect privacy, provide legal certainty, ensure secure transactions, work across borders and are recognised by all sectors of activity; Simplify use of e-signature; Assure securtiy of on-line payments
Mobility Challenges: to simplify procedures for the mutual recognition of mobile workers [7], pension rights protection: encourage Member States to set up pension tracking services which will help citizens follow the development of their pension rights [8], facilitate free movements not only through the abolition of market barriers, but also through the creation of a regulatory environment which minimises administrative burdens [18]
Mobility Challenges Shortlist: Simplify procedures for the mutual recognition of mobile workers; Facilitate free movements through creation of favourable regulatory environment
Cross-cutting Challenges: Passenger rights should be correctly applied in all modes of transport, including for people,
with reduced mobility [10], services of general economic interest (SGEIs) are essential building blocks of the European social model that is both highly competitive and socially inclusive [17]
Other Challenges: regulatory framework for protection of intellectual property rights is needed [8] - evolve towards European models which facilitate for licences covering several territories for a multitude of on-line services, whilst at the same time providing a high level of protection for rights holders, European trademark system should also be modernised [9], to develop a modern multimodal cabotage and transport network, define a basic network of strategic European infrastructure bringing together the eastern and western parts of the European Union, thereby embodying a European mobility network and a single European transport space [12], simplifying procurement procedures and introducing greater flexibility in order to make public purchasing more efficient [19]
Other Challenges Shortlist: Improving the regulatory framework for protection of intellectual property rights; Modernisation of European trademark system

Summary of relevant aspects

Connecting fields: In 2011 the Commission also adopted a Communication on corporate social responsibility (CSR) – a wider concept than social business – which encourages all businesses to pursue actions with social or environmental objectives as part of their daily activities.
Other Aspects of Governance: By the end of 2012, the Commission will also consult civil society and all Single Market actors through its new governance instruments [22].
Background information: Explicit connection with “Europe 2020” - objectives like “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” can be achieved only if the Union and the Member States carry out urgent structural reforms. The single market provides the framework and the tools for implementing these reforms [3].

Scenarios

Actions/solutions implied: (1) Mobility for citizens: Modernising the system for recognising professional qualifications.
(2) Access SMEs: Make it easier for venture capital funds established in a Member State to invest freelyin any other Member State, without obstacles or additional requirements.
(3) Intellectual property rights: Setting up a unitary patent protection for the greatest possible number of Member States and a unified patent litigation system.
(4) Consumer empowerment: Legislation on Alternative Dispute Resolution. This action will also include an electronic commerce dimension.
(5) Services: Revision of the legislation on theEuropean standardisation system, to extend it to services and make standardisation procedures more effective, efficient and inclusive.
(6) Networks: Energy and transport infrastructure legislation serving to identify and roll out strategic projects of European interest and to ensure interoperability and intermodality.
(7) Digital single market: Legislation ensuring the mutual recognition of electronic identification and authentication across the EU and revision of the Directive on Electronic Signatures.
(8) Social entrepreneurship: Legislation setting up a European framework for social investment funds.
(9) Taxation: Review of the Energy Tax Directive in order to ensure consistent treatment of different sources of energy, so as to better take into account the energy content of products and their CO2 emission level.
(10) Social cohesion: Legislation aimed at improving and reinforcing the transposition,implementation and enforcement in practice of the Posting of Workers Directive, together with legislation aimed at clarifying the exercise of the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services alongside fundamental social rights.
(11) Business environment: Simplification of the Accounting Directives.
(12) Public procurement: Revised and modernised public procurement legislative framework [23, 24] furthermore: ”increasing willingness of civil society to be more closely involved in the development of the single markett; solution: The social partners should also have an enhanced role, by having the opportunity to present their positions on issues relating to economic and social cohesion and “the need to strengthen and deepen partnerships between all single-market participants; the legal certainty of the electronic information exchange system (IMI) should be increased [20]
Who benefits from the actions taken?: The financial/ economic and societal system in Europe.

Meta information

Time horizon: 2020
Methods: In May 2010, at the request of President Barroso, Professor Mario Monti presented his report on 'A New Strategy for the Single Market'. This was followed on 27 October 2010 by the Commission's Communication 'Towards a Single Market Act' 50 potential priority measures to re-launch the Single Market and kick-started a Europe-wide debate on the future priorities of single market policy. For four months debates were held throughout Europe – in Member States, EU institutions and consultative bodies, national parliaments, regions, local authorities, with civil society, trade unions, business federations, NGOs, and all other stakeholders. Questions that were asked were: Are these 50 measures the right measures? Are there alternatives? Are there issues we have forgotten? The purpose of the public debate was to generate a dialogue between citizens and stakeholders across Europe on single market issues that matter to them. As a result, more than 800 contributions were received from a wide range of respondents, reflecting the keen interest of European citizens, businesses, workers and civil society at large in the single market. More than 30% of responses came from individual citizens. Nearly three-quarters of respondents expressed a positive view of the Single Market Act and a large number came forward with useful comments and ideas on the overall exercise or the individual proposed actions.
Target Group: Citizens and businesses will not be able to reap the full benefits of the Single Market unless the Single Market Act and its priority actions are implemented swiftly and boldly. The set of 12 actions in the document is an essential contribution to the efforts being made to make the European economy more competitive and should therefore be given the very highest priority. It requires the full involvement and support of all European Institutions, Member States and stakeholders (= target group) [22].
Objectives: The Single Market Act proposes 12 key actions to boost European competitiveness and to unlock economic growth and jobs which, considering the crisis, the European Commission wants to see adopted by the end of 2012. The financial crisis has dented people's expectations and confidence in markets and sometimes in the Single Market itself. It is the objective of the Single Market Act to strengthen this confidence.
Countries covered: 27 EU Member States
Geographic scope:

Entry Details

Rapporteur: Claudia Steindl
Rapporteur's organization: AIT
Entry Date: 15.05.2012