Malta has maintained its first place in the 25th edition of the Internal Market Scoreboard issued by the European Commission. This is the eighth consecutive time that Malta has placed first in the scoreboard, which is issued twice a year.

The scoreboard benchmarks Member States' efforts in the implementation of Internal Market Law by recording the transposition deficit, which is the gap between the number of Internal Market laws adopted at EU level and those in force in the Member States. It takes into account all notifications of Directives relating to the Internal Market with a transposition deadline of  April 30, 2012.

In its Staff Working Document on the Scoreboard, the Commission stated that: "Malta has confirmed its leading position for the eighth consecutive time, joined by Latvia [...]. Today, both Member States are merely two directives away from a 0% deficit." The 0% deficit is considered a perfect score, while Malta's result translates into a 0.1% deficit which is well below the 1% target. In all, 16 Member States are within the 1% target.

The report also states that Malta is one of eight  Member States which achieved or equalled their best result ever. The other Member States are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France and Latvia. Furthermore, the report states that Malta is one of only five Member States which have a shorter average delay in the transposition of directives than in November 2011.

"The report is further confirmation of Malta's deep commitment to the Single Market in view of the beneficial effect this has in terms of enabling Maltese individuals, consumers and businesses to make the most of the opportunities offered to them by having direct access to 27 countries and 495 million people, said Marlene Bonnici, the Permanent Representative of Malta to the EU.

"Malta's continued leadership in the Internal Market Scoreboard is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the Maltese Government in bringing the Single Market closer to its citizens and maximising the benefits as well as opportunities of the EU's huge market for Maltese businesses and consumers alike."

The Internal Market Scoreboard can be accessed at: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/score/docs/score25_en.pdf

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.