With only a few days to go before the EU's Services Directive comes into force next Monday, the business community has displayed a renewed interest in the changes that are to be brought about by the new law.
Ultimatley, the main aim of the Services Directive is to release untapped growth potential of the services markets across the Europen Union, by removing legal and administrative barriers to trade in the relvant sectors.
Malta is not the only European member state that has been kept busy preparing for the adoption of the directive and the experience of other EU member states raises a number of interesting points.
Marianne Abyhammar, director of the Swedish EU Services Directive Team, believes that the full and timely implemenation of the new directive "can boost economic recovery through increased trade in services." She went on to state that "the modernisation of administrative procedures will have a positive impact on the willingness to start new businesses, or expanding existing businesses to new markets across Europe."
Preparation for the implementation of the directive has also been in full swing in all EU member states throughout the last few months. In fact, Ms Abyhammar explains that 13 existing laws had to be changed to accommodate the directive. She explains that despite the great amount of screening involved prior to the imposition of the new law, businesses are set to benefit from its provisions.
"A concrete example of how business in the services sector will be facilitated in Sweden is the abolition of the need to register a company representative living in the country if that a company wants to establish itself in Sweden. Another legislative simplification is the new, shorter, time limits for the application process which will surely make the authorisation procedure easier for business," she explains.
Ms Abyhammar also voices the opinion that the fact that the Services Directive aims to ease the establishment process of a service provider in another EU member state should lead to enhanced competition. This in turn should lead to lower prices. "I believe that the establishment of other EU service providers within the domestic market may also lead to an increase of other forms of service that can also be provided by local businesses. Temporary service providers will also sharpen competition and make local businesses more competitive within cross border markets," she points out.
In order to facilitate the practical implication of the measures laid out in the Services Directive, EU member states will be obliged to establish "Points of Single Contact". Ms Abyhammar explains that the Swedish authorities will be using an already established webpage - www.verksamt.se - which is currently the main platform for starting business and e-applications for Swedish companies.
While these Points of Single Conact will certainly be required once the directive comes onto force, there is also a pressing need for effective awareness-raising about the directive and its implications among the relevant authorities, the business comunity and consumers alike. Ms Abyhammar explains that the Swedish authorities organised training sessions and information events sessions, with the aim of ensuring that all authorities are well aware of their obligations.
"I believe that communicating the directive with service providers is a long term job that could be divided into two steps. The first step could be to spread knowledge about the Point of Single Contact and the second step could be to highlight business success stories and provide examples of concrete legal changes that have been made in different member states," she suggests.
As is usually the case with the adoption of a new legislation, there are concerns that will be dealt with as the process unfolds. Across the EU, there is concern that there may be uneven or incomplete transposition of the Services Directive across the member states.
However, Ms Abyhammar is not unduly concerned about such a possibility, stating that an uneven transposition of the directive should not derail a positive outcome, although she acknowledges that problems could be caused if the transposition is too weak from the very start.
However, Ms Abyhammar did voice her concern over the availability of information provided through the Single Point of Contact in a second language as this may limit the usefulness of the initiative considerably.
The author is an executive with the Malta Business Bureau.