Description (short summary):
The goal of the study is to get an overview of the current state of the Services Directive (EU-SD) in the EU. Accordingly, the study results in information on the Member States' activities, strategies and thoughts on various aspects of the EU-SD, and in particular, how they plan/operate the "Point of Single Contact" for all non-national companies intending to establish a services business in their country. The study does not attempt to present options to implement the EU-SD as there are already numerous publications available in each country.

The objective of the EU-SD is to achieve a genuine internal market in services by removing legal and administrative barriers to the development of service activities between the Member States. The EU-SD was adopted on 12 December 2006 and will have to be implemented by Member States three years after its publication, therefore by 28 of December 2009,at the latest. The SD will guarantee service providers more legal certainty if they want to exercise two fundamental freedoms enshrined in the EC Treaty, the free movement of services and freedom of establishment.

The topics covered are the following:

• starting position / Country background;
• project organisation;
• the EU-SD and Identity Management;
• solution strategies;
• challenges and obstacles.

The core findings of the study include:

• EU-SD projects are based on: the existing regulatory environment and practices of registering a business online; the entities defined as responsible for the directive's implementation; the technical/ IT approach; the status of implementation on the respective levels.
• The EU-SD facilitates administrative reforms/modernisation.
• Many EU-Member States are concerned that the EU-SD makes it easier for fraudulent businesses to enter domestic markets.
• A highly federalised government structure (e.g. Germany) makes implementation of the EU-SD particularly difficult.

Number of pages:
33 (English version)
30 (German version)