Single market rule changes pay off

Date: 30/07/1998

By Tim Jones

TWO years into their life, the European Commission's new streamlined methods for policing the single market appear to be paying dividends.

Analysis by the Commission shows the procedural revamp has largely succeeded in reducing the gap between opening a case against a government for infringing internal market laws and taking a decision to a year.

However, the period between making a decision and seeing through its implementation, either by sending a letter of formal notice or a 'reasoned opinion' to a member state or going further with reference to the European Court of Justice, is still too long.

In high-profile cases, these deadlines can be extended almost indefinitely.

Attempts by Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti to force a decision on France's Loi Evin ban on alcohol advertising at sports events after two years of prevarication failed last month in the face of implacable opposition both from Paris and within the Commission itself.

In general, the Commission's stated aim is to implement a decision within a week of taking it.

Following introduction of the new procedures, involving systematic tracking of delays and the tightening up of drafting of legal texts, the Commission revealed in its annual report on infringements that there had been a "spectacular increase" of 23% in the number of inquiries opened.

New complaints rose from 819 in 1996 to 957 in 1997. Of these, the number discovered through the Commission's own inquiries remained steady at 261, while 17 emerged from petitions to the European Parliament or MEPs' questions to the Commission.

The number of cases settled was up 135% on the previous year and many of these were concluded without referral to the ECJ. For the first time last year, the Commission made use of its recently acquired powers to call for daily fines on governments until they changed their ways.

Last month, the Commission imposed such fines on Greece for failing to introduce long-overdue single market insurance laws, and threatened France with similar treatment after the national assembly brought forward the hunting season in contravention of EU environmental rules.

France is one of the member states most investigated for infringements of the single market. Last year, the Commission issued 154 letters of notice to France for infringements, put together 52 formal legal warnings and made 15 referrals to the ECJ. The equivalent figures for Germany were 121, 35 and 19; for Italy 122, 35 and 20; and for the UK 96, eight and one.