Malcolm Harbour, chairman of the EP Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, has applauded the Lithuanian aim of initiating a dialogue on the necessity to be more active in sharing information in the area during Lithuania's presidency over the EU Council in the second half of this year.
Sharing information on restrictions that still exist in EU's internal markets and different rules applied by member-states on products and services is stipulated by the EU Directive on Services.
In Harbour's words, when it comes to EU internal market regulation, "we're not looking for new legislation, we're looking for the effective implementation for the existing legislation."
"And of course this is complex because it covers such a wide range of individual, professional and service organizations. One of the things that we are clear about is that we're not getting enough information from governments about the barriers that still exist. There is a lot of information out there, we need to improve that. (...) It's progress better in some member states that others," Harbour said in Vilnius.
In his words, so-called contact centers of services and products were established in line with the Services Directive to provide information to foreign businesses about the specific market rules in effect in different member-states of the community.
"What we discussed with your president this morning is the fact that we need to promote these now. Member-states have invested significantly, including Lithuania, in providing that good quality information but we need companies to use it. We're pleased that the Lithuanian presidency identified this as something which they want to convene member-states and talk to member-states about, because it needs to be addressed at that level now. We have put in place the framework, it now needs to be implemented," Harbour said.
"I have an impression that many businesses don't know that we have these single point of contacts which are a help," another member of the EP committee Evelyne Gebhardt said.
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė has said after the meeting that Lithuania will seek to initiate Council discussions and approve conclusions in December on integration of the common market.
Lithuania will take EU Council presidency on July 1.
