Select Committee on European Union Fifth Report

CHAPTER 8: SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

149.  We believe that the Single Market has the potential to be of great benefit to the businesses, citizens and consumers of the European Union. The Commission's Review of the Single Market is a useful and timely exercise to refocus policy on how to secure those benefits (paragraph 5).

150.  We call on the Government and the Commission to instil a sense of urgency into the review of the Single Market (paragraph 59).

POLICY-MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION

151.  The Committee strongly supports the Commission's commitment, made in the Single Market Review, to keep legislation simple, to roll back EU intervention where it is no longer appropriate, and to seek non-legislative solutions where possible (paragraph 60).

152.  The Commission's Review rightly emphasises the importance of working in partnership with Member States and local authorities, but this Committee would place greater onus on the Member States to meet their commitments in order to achieve a fully-functioning Single Market (paragraph 61).

153.  We believe effective policy-making underlies effective implementation. We welcome the Commission's proposals in its Review of the Single Market for better product and sector monitoring, consultation with a wider range of stakeholders and improved impact assessments (paragraph 62).

154.  More effort and resources should be devoted to providing practical assistance to Member States in the process of transposing legislation in order to avoid problems of interpretation, delayed implementation or failure to enforce later on (paragraph 63).

155.  The focus on assisting Member States early on in the process of transposition must not come at the expense of effective enforcement when necessary (paragraph 64).

156.  We welcome the Commission's proposals for a more proactive approach to prevent problems in the implementation of EU law, promoting best practice through a Member State working group and supporting the exchange of information and staff between national administrations, as well as using competition powers, such as sector inquiries (paragraph 65).

REGULATORY AUTHORITIES

157.  National Regulatory Authorities must be independent of government, especially where governments have financial interests in the major market operator or national incumbent (paragraph 66).

158.  There is no need for a 'super-regulator' at EU-level in any of the sectors we considered in this inquiry, which were energy, telecommunications and financial services (paragraph 67).

159.  The Committee is pleased to see that the Commission's recent proposals suggest more cooperation between National Regulatory Authorities; the need for operational independence of regulators; and strengthened powers for regulators to ensure that consumers and businesses can reap the benefits of the Single Market (paragraph 68).

REALISING THE BENEFITS OF THE SINGLE MARKET FOR BUSINESSES, CITIZENS AND CONSUMERS

160.  We believe that more should be done to help SMEs participate actively in the Single Market (paragraph 69).

161.  Consumers and citizens need to be more fully persuaded of the benefits of the Single Market (paragraph 70).

162.  We call for a renewed commitment to the importance of competition and the need to complete the Single Market for the benefit of consumers and businesses alike (paragraph 71).

Energy Sector

163.  The practice of some network operators to discriminate against third parties in favour of their own related supply interests must be addressed. In this regard the Committee welcomes the Commission's legislative proposals (paragraph 95).

ENERGY REGULATION

164.  We are of the opinion that full ownership unbundling more satisfactorily removes the incentives for discriminatory and uncompetitive behaviour by the network operator (paragraph 96).

165.  We support the creation of an agency for the cooperation of National Regulatory Authorities but would reject calls for a European regulatory authority (paragraph 97).

166.  We accept that security of supply is important but we are not convinced that the creation of a more comprehensive Single Market in energy would necessarily weaken international supply (paragraph 98).

Telecommunications

TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION

167.  The main concern continues to be failures by Member States in the implementation and enforcement of certain elements of their regulatory obligations. The Commission has recognised this in its reform proposals, with new measures designed to improve its oversight of the decisions of Member State National Regulatory Authorities, to ensure greater consistency in approach between Member States. We therefore welcome its reform proposals in this respect (paragraph 115).

168.  The Commission should consider what steps can be taken to reduce further the market power of the national incumbents. The Committee supports the Commission's proposal to enable National Regulatory Authorities to impose functional separation as a remedy (paragraph 116).

169.  Despite the claims made by the Commission, the Committee believe that the creation of an EU regulator for the telecommunications sector is likely to increase regulatory complexity and uncertainty for market participants and bring insufficient benefits for the costs involved (paragraph 117).

SPECTRUM

170.  We welcome the Commission's initiative on spectrum, including the facilitation of secondary trading; greater access to licence-free spectrum, and further co-ordination on the conditions applicable to spectrum authorisations (paragraph 118).

Financial Services

171.  A desire for a regulatory pause in the wholesale banking sector was expressed. The Commission should use such a pause to focus on its monitoring role and encourage the timely and consistent implementation of EU directives (paragraph 146).

172.  It is important for any retail banking sector initiatives to have a consumer-oriented approach in order to deliver tangible benefits to end-users by opening access to national markets. As part of this approach, research and consultation must be the starting points before legislative proposals are launched (paragraph 147).

173.  Following such research and consultation the Commission should be more willing to develop a combination of market-led and regulatory instruments to be pursued in order to further the integration of the EU retail banking sector (paragraph 148).

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