Baggrund og Problem
The affected EU-Regulation
In January 2017, the Commission proposed legislation to improve the notification procedure under the Services Directive (2006/123/EC). The negotiations regarding the revision of this directive did not produce an outcome between the co-legislators and the proposal was subsequently withdrawn by the Commission.
The affected Danish regulation
Existing and future national Danish regulations.
Affected businesses
All companies already affected by national technical regulations - both when it applies to products and services.
Reasoning behind the recommendation
The Commission only has 3 months to examine the national special rules that are notified. Therefore, the Commission should secure the best possible conditions to fulfil its obligation to ensure that only national special rules which are justified enter into force. In addition, requirements for impact assessments will contribute to increasing attention towards Member States' obligations in the internal market and create a better balance between the requirements set by the development of EU rules and national regulations.
If unjustified national special rules are not hindered by notification, they will cause unjustified barriers to trade and fragmentation of the internal market in the future. This situation also requires the Commission to initiate infringement proceedings- if it later on must raise objections against these national special regulations. This is both an expensive and lengthy process.
Expected consequences for industry and commerce
Companies will experience fewer barriers to trade in the Single Market. That means fewer unnecessary burdens in the form of compulsive product changes and requirements for use of national standards or certification schemes. In addition, companies will have fewer costs for storage and logistics etc.
Economic consequences
The economic consequences will depend on which unjustified national requirements companies are required to comply with and how large the markets the companies lose access to are, if they cannot comply with the rules.
For a product, a national certification can easily amount to a cost of DKK 50,000 for a company. If product changes are demanded, there will also be additional costs associated with product development, double stock, increased complexity in connection with logistics etc.
Certain considerations
Similar to the TRIS Directive (EU) 2015/1535, working environment rules are not covered of this recommendation.
Current Danish efforts
The forum is not familiar with Danish efforts at EU level.
Anbefaling
The Danish Business Regulation Forum recommends that the Commission works to ensure that the Member States are required to notify and that actual measures are taken in cases of non-notification. Furthermore, that the Commission should make it obligatory to perform an impact assessment or proportionality test before notification of special national technical regulations. This assessment or test must be presented to the Commission and the other Member States before adoption.
At the same time, it should be made possible to submit already notified rules for re-evaluation and renewed impact assessment at the Commission. This access to submit already notified rules, must be widely available and should be followed
by a comply-or-explain principle for the Commission (in cases where no letters of formal notice are initiated, or the problem is not resolved in another way).
It should be possible for the Commission in certain cases to initiate injunctions for proposed national legislation that is an obvious breach of EU-rules – so that this legislation cannot be passed by a Member State whilst the Commission is assessing the matter or subsequently have given a negative opinion as regards the conformity to EU-legislation. These injunctions could be extended to cases of non-notification or missing/insufficient impact assessment/justifications for a proposed national legislative measure.
Regeringens svar
Regeringen tiltræder anbefalingen. Regeringen vil fortsætte sit arbejde med at forbedre Kommissionens ’Single Notification Window’ for at sikre bedre vejledning overfor nationale myndigheder om deres notifikationsforpligtelser samt øget gennemsigtig over nationale særregler for virksomheder.
Der gøres opmærksom på, at Kommissionen allerede har mulighed for at forlænge ’standstill’-perioden for notifikationer, der er omfattet af TRIS-direktivet med op til et år ved en udførlig udtalelse, ligesom medlemsstater under TRIS-direktivet allerede er forpligtede til at notificere væsentlige ændringer til eksisterende nationale særregler. Regeringen vil arbejde for at reglerne udmøntes bedre i praksis.