13 SINGLE MARKET SCOREBOARD
(24544)
9354/03
SEC(03) 554
| Commission staff working paper: Internal Market Scoreboard No 12.
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Document originated | 12 May 2003
|
| Deposited in Parliament |
19 May 2003 |
| Department | Trade and Industry
|
| Basis of consideration |
EM of 4 June 2003 |
| Previous Committee Report |
None; but see (24020) 14430/02: HC 63-v (2002-03), paragraph 19 (18 December 2002)
|
| Discussed in Council | Already discussed
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
13.1 As part of the Internal Market Action Plan agreed
in June 1997, the Commission undertook to produce a "Single
Market[37] Scoreboard"
during each Presidency of the European Union. The purpose of the
Scoreboard is to monitor the functioning of the Single Market
and allow Member States to compare their performance in certain
key areas.
The document
13.2 This Scoreboard is the twelfth edition. It is presented
in three parts. The first — "Implementing the Internal
Market's Legal Framework" — looks at progress in transposition
(the implementation of Directives through national legislation)
and action on transposition failure. The focus is on reducing
the proportion of Directives overdue for transposition (the transposition
deficit) to the 1.5% target set by the European Council in March
2002. The UK met the target then and in all subsequent Scoreboards.
13.3 In this Scoreboard the UK has achieved
fifth place with a transposition deficit of 1.5%. The EU average
stands at 2.4%, which has worsened from 2.1% in the November 2002
Scoreboard and 1.8% in the May 2002 Scoreboard. All eight Member
States which last year failed to meet the 1.5% target now have
deficits of 3% or more.
13.4 The Scoreboard notes that the Commission
has traditionally used infringement proceedings, involving considerable
resources, to ensure respect for Community law. The Commission
now increasingly seeks alternative mechanisms for enforcing proper
transposition. One of these involves meetings at which experts
from Member States and the Commission informally discuss a package
of cases being considered by the Commission. Nearly half of the
cases discussed at such meetings are resolved or on the way to
being resolved. Another mechanism is SOLVIT, a system dealing
with cases of misapplication of Single Market rules by national
and local administrations. The Scoreboard has initial findings
on the use of SOLVIT but notes that the numbers are still too
small to draw statistically valid conclusions.
13.5 The second part of the scoreboard examines
"Tax Obstacles in the Internal Market". It discusses
corporate taxation, Valued Added Tax, motor vehicle taxation and
pension taxation. The Commission seeks to use these four quite
different examples to illustrate perceived obstacles to the proper
operation of the Single Market.
13.6 The third part of this Scoreboard looks
at price differentials between the existing EU and the ten acceding
Member States. It notes that the new Member States have price
levels for goods and services significantly lower than in the
present Member States. The Commission predicts that there will
be fairly rapid upward convergence (but of incomes as well). But
it also says there should be some lower prices in the acceding
countries through increased competition, for instance for telecommunications
services.
The Government's view
13.7 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State for Competition, Consumers and Markets, Department of Trade
and Industry (Miss Melanie Johnson) tells us:
"The primary aim of the Scoreboard is to
monitor a range of indicators which reflect the health of the
Single Market. It has no direct policy implications but, nonetheless
has proved extremely useful both as a means of evaluating developments
in the Single Market and as a spur towards greater achievement.
For example, the Commission's Internal Market Strategy lists the
practical steps which are necessary to make the Conclusions of
the Lisbon Summit a reality and the Scoreboard is one way of monitoring
how work is progressing and picking up on areas of difficulty.
Likewise, the Scoreboard helps to maintain the pressure on Member
States to implement European legislation on time and enables both
the Commission and Member States to identify problems. This in
turn provides a basis for improving the regulatory environment.
The Government therefore supports the continued use and development
of the Internal Market Scoreboard."
Conclusion
13.8 We have noted before that the Scoreboard
is a useful source of information on, amongst other things, the
relative performance of Member States in transposing Directives
and reducing infraction cases. We note again that the UK is amongst
those making good efforts to improve its transposition record.
13.9 But we
note also with dismay the continuing failure of some Member States
to meet promptly and properly their obligations in relation to
the Single Market. This disadvantages not only UK businesses and
consumers but the interests of all those who stand to benefit
from a properly functioning Single Market.
13.10 We clear
the document.
37 The Commission uses the term "Internal Market",
and the subject of this paragraph is entitled the "Internal
Market Scoreboard".However, the term "Single Market"
is more commonly used in the UK and therefore we use it except
when referring to titles or headings using "Internal Market". Back
| 
