EU Member States Urged To Open Professional Services Further To Competition

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

07 September 2005

In its 2005 Communication on competition in professional services, published this week and entitled ‘Professional Services – Scope for more reform’, the European Commission welcomed progress made in some Member States, but found that regulations which seriously restrict competition are still "all too common" in many countries.

The regulations in question - for example fixing prices or banning advertising - harm consumers and the EU’s competitiveness, and the Commission has urged Member States and the professions to support the Lisbon Strategy by stepping up their efforts to modernise the provision of these services.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes observed that:

“EU Member States committed themselves at the March 2005 European Council to reform their economic structures as part of the relaunched Lisbon Strategy. They now need to turn that political commitment into real action and tackle anti-competitive regulatory restrictions in the professions and give that reform strong political backing domestically."

"Professional services are a key sector of the EU economy and getting rid of anti-competitive regulatory restrictions will stimulate competition, providing consumers and businesses with better value for money, higher quality services and more choice.”

Key findings contained in the communication were that:

• Three Member States - Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK – are making good progress with ongoing reform programmes;
• Five countries – France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania and Slovakia - have made minor reforms and report that analytical work is underway to examine existing regulation;
• Six other countries – Austria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia and Portugal - have made minor reforms;
• Four countries – Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and Poland – have reported only that analytical work is underway; and
• In seven countries – Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Malta, Spain and Sweden - no reform activity is reported.

The Commission Communication went on to explain that:

"In many countries progress is hampered by several factors, including a lack of national political support for reform and little appetite for reform from the professions themselves."

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