The 1996 single market review

European Commission Directorate-General For The Internal Market And Services

Description

Background information for the report to the Council and European Parliament
Construction of Europe

Sujets

• Single market

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-THE-INTERNAL-MARKET-AND-SERVICES
• Nombre de lectures: 28
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

The 1996
single market review
Background information for the report to
the Council and European Parliament
EUROPEAN COMMISSION The 1996 single market review
Brussels, ¡6.12.1996
SEC (96) 2378
Background information for the report to the
Council and European Parliament
This working document brings together the findings of the series of studies and surveys
concluded as the background to the 1996 single market review and other factual material. It
provides the basis for the Communication to the European Parliament and Council
(COM(96)520 final of 30 October 1996) entitled
'Impact and effectiveness of the internal market'
European Commission A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int)
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1997
ISBN 92-827-9627-2
© ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1997
Reproduction is authorized, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged
Printed in Germany Contents
1. Introduction 9
1.1. The background to the review
1.2. The difficulties of assessing the single market now 11
2. The effectiveness of singh market measures ¡3
2.1. Introduction 13
2.2. Free movement of goods
2.2.1. Manufacturing sector surveys 13
2.2.2. Abolition of customs and fiscal fronüers 15
2.2.2.1. Introduction5
2.2.2.2. Switch-over to the transitional VAT system 1
2.2.2.3. Abolition of frontier controls7
2.2.2.4. Conclusions
2.2 J. Removal of technical barriers to trade 18
2.2.3.1. Introduction8
2.2.3.2. Mutual recognition principle 19
2.2.3.3. Preventing new generations of technical trade barriers 21
2.2.3.4. EU technical harmonization 22
2.2.3.5. Conclusions5
2.2.4. Conclusions (on the free movement of goods) 25
2.3. Freedom to provide services7
2.3.1. Introduction 21
2.3.2. The dynamic of the SMP8
2.3.3. effectiveness of the measures 29
2.3.3.1. Services sector survey9
2.3.3.2. Single market review studies 30
2.3.4. The liberalization effect 30
2.3.4.1. Free movement of goods and persons
2.3.4.2. Quantitative restrictions and restrictions of the free flow of factors 32
2.3.4.3. Freedom of establishment and access to the physical network
2.3.5. The harmonization effect 34
2.3.5.1. Removal of service restrictions5
2.3.5.2. Ensuring fair competition
2.3.5.3. Elimination of fiscal distortions 36
2.3.6. Issues of proportionality and transparency 36
2.3.7. Conclusions 31 2.4. Free movement of capital 37
2.5. Free movement of persons 40
2.6. Creation of a single business environment1
2.6.1. Public procurement liberalization 41
2.6.2. Industrial and intellectual property protection 44
2.6.3. Direá taxation6
2.6.4. Company law
2.6.5. Protection of fundamental rights and freedoms 48
3. Reasons for obstacles to free movement 49
3.1. Non-adoption of single market measures of: 49
3.1.1. Company taxation 50
3.1.2. Approximation of taxation treatment of investment Income
3.1.3. Transition towards an origin-based VAT system
3.1.4. Company law 51
3.2. Inadequacies of the single market legislation 51
3.2.1. Unclear legislation
3.2.2. Limited scope 52
3.2.3. Over<ompkated procedures and high compliance costs 53
3.3. Ineffective implementation or enforcement4
3.3.1. Inadequate transposition 54
3.3.2. Ineffective enforcement 55
3.4. Regulatory barriers 59
3.5. Business behaviour 60
3.6. Remaining cultural differences1
3.7. 'Gaps'in the harmonization programme
3.8. Additional supporting measures2
3.8.1. Telecommunications 62
3.8.2. Energy 63
3.8.3. Transport services
3.8.4. Single currency 65
3.8.4.1. Impact of a multi-currency system on the single market 65
3.8.4.2. The costs of foreign exchange transactions6
3.8.4.3. One money for a single market 67
4. The economic impact of the SMP 69 4.1. Introduction 69
4.2. Impact on trade, cross-border investment, and specialization 71
4.2.1. Trade II
4.2.2. Cross-border investment 72
4.2.3. Trade, specialization and adjustment costs 13
4.2.3.1. The country dimension 74
4.2.3.2. The sectoraln
4.2.4. FDI, specialization and adjustment costs 74
4.2.4.1. The country dimension5
4.2.4.2. The sectoraln
4.2.5. The location issue6
4.3. Impact on market structure, competition and efficiency 7
4.3.1. Changes in the of European industries 76
4.3.1.1. Mergers and acquisitions 7
4.3.1.2. Concentration7
4.3.2. Efficiency and competitiveness: 78
4.3.2.1. Direct savings resulting from SMP integration8
4.3.2.2. Scale economies9
4.3.3. Competitive conditions in European markets 80
4.3.4. Price convergence across the European Union 81
4.4. Income, employment and convergence 82
4.4.1. Income and employment 82
4.4.2. Convergence 83
5. The single market and other policies5
5.1. Introduction 8
5.2. The single market and social policy
5.2.1. The SMP's impact on the social environment 85
5.2.1.1. Social dumping
5.2.1.2. Changes in industrial relations: collective bargaining and social dialogue 86
5.2.2. Geographical labour mobility 86
5.2.3. The effects of social poky 88
5.3. Enterprise policy: the single market and SMEs 89
5.4. Environmental policy 91
5.4.1. The impact of the single market on the environment
5.4.2. Environmental poky and the single market2
5.5. Single market and consumers3
5.5.1. The SMP impact on prices for final consumers 94
5.5.2. Product diversification — better quality 95
5.5.3. Consumer policy5.6. Implications for third countries: the external dimension 97
5.6.1. Single market makes it easier for third countries to do business in £U
5.6.2. SMP resulted in completion of a liberal common commercial poky 98
5.6.3. Single market provisions relating to third country treatment 99
5.6.4. Trade data 100
5.6.5. Conclusions
6. Appendix:The structure of the research 101 List of tables
Table 1 The 1996 single market review — Individual studies 10
Table 2 New approach directives 24
Table 3 Service industries' assessment of effectiveness of measures aimed at eliminating various barriers
to the free movement of services9
Table 4 Eurostat survey, EU Member States excluding Germany
Table 5 Effectiveness of single market measures in removing barriers to the free provision of services 31
Table 6 Import penetration in public sector purchasing 44
Table 7 Annual savings against 2005 base scenario 6
Table 8 Costs of foreign transactions7
Table 9 Perceived importance of unit cost changes in manufacturing by cost category 78 List of figures
Figure 1 — Manufacturing industries' assessment of the effectiveness of measures for free circulation
of products 14
Figure 2 — Perceptions of categories of measures5
Figure 3 — Extent of application of approaches to removing technical barriers to trade 20
Figure 4 — Share of intra-EU trade in total trade 72
Figure 5 — Price variations for different products/services 8