34 Amendments of Daniel BUDA related to 2016/0402(COD)
Amendment 5 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) guarantees service providers the freedom of establishment in Member States and the freedom to provide services across Member States. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union also provides for the right of every citizen of the European Union to provide services in any other Member State.
Amendment 7 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council17 establishes general provisions facilitating the exercise of the freedom of establishment for service providers and the free movement of services. It provides inter alia that Member States should provide for administrative simplification, for instance offering electronic procedures via Points of Single Contact, simplifying existing procedures and the need for, particularly those arising from the need to produce certified documents and, making best use of a system of tacit approval. The Directive also sets a framework furthering the freedom to provide services on a temporary basis in another Member State. _________________ 17Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, p. 36), while strengthening the rights of consumers and businesses that use the services and encouraging cooperation between EU Member States.
Amendment 8 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) Directive 2006/123/EC requires Member States to step up cooperation between themselves and put in place and keep constantly updated Points of Single Contacts where a service provider wishing to establish or to provide services can find all relevant information (and assistance) about requirements to be complied with and e-procedures in respect of all necessary formalities, authorisation and notifications to go through. However,. However, bureaucratic obstacles and costly information challenges and difficulties complying with national procedures at a distance remain to date for service providers, nameespecially for sector-related requirements. Cooperation between authorities in different Member States should in principle take place via the Internal Market Information System (IMI), an IT-platform offered for cross-border exchange of information and mutual assistance under that Directive. Despite the fact that authorities sometimes have doubts with regard to the legal establishment of a provider in another Member State, the possibilities for cooperation currently provided in IMI are not exploited to their full potential, since, in contrast to other areas, there has to date been very little exchange of information between Member States through the IMI system in fields covered by the Directive. Formalities associated with authorisations and notifications often require paper documents to be submitted and to be translated at a significant cost. Information regarding these obstacles is either not available online or is scarce, incomplete, dispersed and difficult to interpret in relation to the particular circumstances of a provider expanding across borders, as national rules often target purely domestic situations. Service providers often risk resubmitting information and documents.
Amendment 10 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Cross-border trade and cross-border investment in certain business and construction services are particularly low showing a potential for better integration of services markets with significant negative repercussions for the remaining part of the economy. This underperformance leads to situations where the potential for more growth and jobs in the Single Market has not been fully exploited. Given the large potential for growth and jobs that remains to be exploited, the provisions of this Directive and of Regulation... [ESC Regulation]... will result in faster productivity growth and a more efficient allocation of resources in the EU services markets. Eliminating remaining obstacles to more cross-border activities, especially in services for companies and the building sector, will help to strengthen competition, resulting in more choice and better prices for consumers, as well as more competitive services sectors creating new jobs, promoting productivity and ensuring a more attractive climate for investment and innovation. Moreover, given that services account for 40 % of the value of a final product in the EU, a more efficient services markets will boost industrial competitiveness.
Amendment 12 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) All matters, activities and fields excluded from the scope of Directive 2006/123/EC should remain excluded from the scope of this Directive. In particular, this Directive does not affect matters, activities and fields such as those deriving from taxation, social security and labour law, including any legal or contractual provision concerning employment conditions, working conditions, including health and safety at work and the relationship between employers and workers and employment categories (such as the posting of workers, workers' rights and the social pillar), including health and safety at work and the relationship between employers and workers. The provisions of this directive do not change or put into question existing safeguards in this respect. Equally this Directive does not affect the social security or environmental protection legislation of the Member States. This Directive is also without prejudice to any provision stemming from competition law as well as any rule on the applicable law or jurisdiction pursuant to private international law.
Amendment 13 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) For reasons of coherence, possible conflicts between the present Directive and other EU acts governing specific aspects of access to or exercise of a service activity in a specific sector should be solved as provided for in Article 3 of Directive 2006/123/EC for conflicts between that Directive and such acts, with the application of those other acts. As a result, the provisions in the present Directive cannot be relied upon in order to justify prior authorisation schemes, prior notification schemes or establishment requirements which are prohibited by other EU acts governing specific aspects of access to or exercise of a service activity in a specific sector such as Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council18. As a further result, this Directive does in no way affect the obligationsrights of service providers and the obligations they should respect in accordance with Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council19 and Directive 2014/67/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council20. The rules on the posting of workers under Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU will therefore continue to apply in the context of the European services e-card. _________________ 18 Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce in the internal market (OJ L178, 17.7.2000, p. 1). 19 Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (OJ L 18, 21.1.1997, p. 1). 20 Directive 2014/67/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System ( ‘the IMI Regulation’ ) (OJ L 159, 28.5.2014, p. 11).
Amendment 14 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) This Directive clarifies the conditions under which service providers concerned can benefit from the European services e-card introduced by Regulation …[ESC Regulation]…, which respective role the home and the host Member State should have and which actions of the home Member State should be accepted by a host Member State. The European services e- card is a voluntary instrument for the service provider. Service providers consequently remain free to decide whether or not to apply for and make use of such a card. In addition, Member States must ensure that they do not treat service providers less favourably or discriminate against them, depending on whether or not they decide to avail themselves of the European services e- card.
Amendment 16 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) The main purpose of the European services e-card is to ensure administrative simplification, through the introducetion of a uniform and simplified procedure for service providers wishing to expand provision of services across internal market borderstheir operations across national borders within the internal market, commencing in the home Member State and following the same procedural workflow, irrespective of the host Member State or the service in question, being designed specifically for crossborder situations and leading to certification in the form of a European services e-card. The e-card therefore represents an electronic certificate stating that a service provider is legally established in a Member State (the home Member State)Member State of origin) and is entitled to start providing services in the host Member State and continue to do so for the duration of the validity of the European services e-card. Host Member States where a service provider is interested in expanding to should furthermore not apply, to holders of an e- card, their prior authorisation or notifications schemes put in place under national law to control access to or exercicse of service activities, which is already the object of control before issue of a European services e-card.
Amendment 27 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) The coordinating authority of the home Member State should, upon receiving an application for a European services e-card, complete it and validate its contents in order to accurately demonstrate legal establishmentverify whether the applicant is established de jure and de facto in the territory of the Member State of origin and whether the documents necessary to complete the application and validate its contents are valid and correct, so as to define precisely the legal establishment and the circumstances of the provider in itshis or her home Member State and describe its circumstances in a manner conducive for, thereby enabling the authorities of the host Member States' authorities to pursue their own controls. While inaction on the part of the applicant should lead to a halt in the procedure, inaction on the part of the home Member State's authorities should give way to judicial redress.
Amendment 30 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) A coordinating authority of the host Member State should provide clarity as to which requirements apply to the incoming service provider, considering the latter is already established in another Member State. The coordinating authority of the host Member State should ensure the provider knows which requirements govern performance of services in the host Member States, including those applicable once it obtains the European services e- card. Information concerning these requirements should be included in the application forms. For establishment, i.e., provision of services through branches, agencies or offices, the identification of applicable requirements by the coordinating authority of the host Member State fulfils a different purpose: it lists the requirements the compliance of which the incoming service provider is required to prove before the e- card can be issued.
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 34
Recital 34
(34) In order to lay down the procedure for requesting such information, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty should be delegated to the Commission in respect of specifying the procedural workflow and its impact on the applicable time-limits for decisions to be made in the context of issuing a European services e-card. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultationparticularly with interested parties in the sectors covered by this Directive, and that this be cdonductede in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts and interested parties, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 40
Recital 40
(40) A European services e-card should allow for provision of services throughout the territory of the host Member State. A service provider, once established in a host Member State on the basis of the European services e-card held by him, in the form of a branch, agency or office, should not, in principle, need to apply for another e-card in order to expand provision of services already covered by the existing e-card domestically through additional branches, agencies or offices there, as the case may be. However, as Directive 2006/123/EC expressly provides for, authorisations for each individual branch, agency or office may be justified by overriding reasons of public interest. In that case, service providers should continue to have the choice of expanding operations domestically by obtaining those authorisations under national law or applying for additional European services e-cards, for each additional branch, agency of office, as the case may be.
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 44
Recital 44
(44) Administrative cooperation between home and host Member State authorities shouldis based, inter alia, on the periodic updating of information, which should be used to ensure observance of conditions of validity of a previously issued European services e-card. To further ensure no European services e-card misrepresents the situation of its holder at any given moment, its holder and competent authorities should be obliged to inform the coordinating authority who issued it of changes in the situation of the holder which may impact the validity of the e-card.
Amendment 48 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) In any case, before adopting the decision to revoke or suspend the e-card, the competent coordinating authority should consult the e-card holder and any decision should be duly justified and subject to appeal, in accordance with the applicable national law of the Member State which issued it. In cases of material error or justified omission or delay in the submission of information or documents, the coordinating authority should give the service provider the opportunity to remedy the situation. Interim measures signalling a pending procedure for suspension or revocation of a European services e-card should be allowed, signalling a link with alerts triggered under Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 50 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 47
Recital 47
(47) The application of this Directive should be monitored and assessed in order to determine its impact on the simplification of administrative proceedings and on the costs of expanding operations cross-border, particularly in relation to service providers to whom the provisions of this directive apply, on consumer perception regarding such providers, particularly those holding a European services e-card, and on competition and competitiveness, prices and quality of services. The effects of the provisions contained in this Directive should be evaluated regularly, in particular in order to assess whether it would be appropriate to introduce a European services e-card for other service activities. This monitoring will take place in cooperation with Member States, social partners and other relevant stakeholders.
Amendment 53 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
It shall not apply to the activities and fields mentioned in Article 2(2) and (3) of Directive 2006/123/EC or to information society services.
Amendment 54 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2 a (new)
This Directive shall not have any impact on the regulatory requirements for the provision of services that are in place at national level, such as rules concerning social protection, consumer rights, health and safety or the environment. It does not therefore introduce the country of origin principle.
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2 b (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2 b (new)
This Directive is also without prejudice to any provision stemming from competition law and any rule on the applicable law or jurisdiction under private international law.
Amendment 59 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1
1. "home Member State" means the Member State to which a provider addressedwhere the service provider is established in accordance with the laws of that Member State and to which the application for the issuing of a European services e-card is addressed;
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)
1a. The European services e-card is an electronic certificate issued as the result of a voluntary procedure initiated in the Member State of origin, this procedure being fully electronic, specifically designed for cross-border situations, fully multilingual and data- driven, minimising the use of documents, governed by the 'once only' principle and harmonised at EU level; the European services e-card certifies that the holder - providing services for businesses or in the construction sector - is lawfully engaged in his or her activity in the home Member State and establishes the right of the holder to start providing services in the host Member State, either temporarily or through a branch, agency or offices in the area, and continue providing them for the duration of validity of the card.
Amendment 62 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new)
(11a) 'recipient' shall mean a recipient as defined in Article 4(3) of Directive 2006/123/EC;
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Member States shall accept a valid European services e-card as proof that its holder is legally established in the territory of his home Member State and is entitled, in that territory,, under the legislation of that Member State, is entitled to provide the service activities covered by the e-card in its territory.
Amendment 67 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 a (new)
Article 4 a (new)
Amendment 77 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Authorities in Member States shall not, in the context of any procedures or formalities imposed on a provider in their territory and in accordance with the rules on the protection of personal data as provided for in Directive 95/46/EC [, Regulation (EU) No 2016/679] and national legislation, require the holder of a European services e-card to provide any information which is already contained inor documents on the strength of which the European services e-card was issued, including for:
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
The coordinating authority of the home Member State shall within onetwo weeks of having received an application for a European services e-card:
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b
(b) verify the completeness, veracity, validity and accuracy of the information provided;
Amendment 88 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point d
Article 11 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point d
(d) verify the content, veracity and validity of accompanying documents, if any, that prove compliance with requirements applicable to the service provision to which the applicant is subject in the home Member State;
Amendment 89 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 2
Article 11 – paragraph 2
2. The coordinating authority of the home Member State shall, upon completion of the tasks referred to in paragraph 1, communicate without delay the application to the coordinating authority of the host Member State, with information to the applicant. This communication shall constitute proof of legal establishment of the applicant in the territory of the home Member State and his or her right to provide in that territory the services to which the application refers.
Amendment 90 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 11 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. The coordinating authorities of the Member State of origin shall inform the applicant about the general requirements applicable in the host Member State regarding access to, and the exercise of, the service activities envisaged by the applicant, as provided for in Article 7 of Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
The host Member State shall take due account in that assessment of the requirements that the applicant already meets in its home Member States. For the purpose of that assessment and within the above-mentioned time-limit, the coordinating authority of the host Member State shall be allowed to request necessary clarifications or necessary additional information from the coordinating authorities of the home Member State or the applicant which is not yet contained in the application. In that case, the time limit referred to in this paragraph is suspended until the requested necessary clarification or necessary additional information is supplied. If the host Member State ascertains that the requirements already met by the applicant in the home Member State effectively correspond to its own, the coordinating authority of the host Member State may not object to the issuing of the European services e-card. The procedure for requesting clarifications or additional information will be laid down by way of the delegated acts referenced in paragraph 4.
Amendment 114 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 4
Article 13 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 4
Upon receipt of the observations of the applicant or, where no observations have been made, upon expiration of the time- limit to present those observations, the coordinating authority of the host Member State shall decide, within one week, whether to issue the European services e- card or reject the application for the European services e-card. A declaration of intention to reject the application and the decision rejecting the application, notified to the applicant for a European services e- card through the electronic platform on which the standard application form is made available, must be fully reasoned, specifying which of the conditions specified under paragraph (1) was not considered to be fulfilled by the applicant and why.
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Article 18 – paragraph 1
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016.
Amendment 131 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 1
Article 20 – paragraph 1
The Commission, with Member States, social partners and other relevant stakeholders, will establish monitoring arrangements to monitor and assess the implementation and impacts of this Directive, in particular how it impacts freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services across Member States for the service activities covered, namely by reducing bureaucratic obstacles and costs for providers, enhancing transparency about providers expanding cross-border and increasing competition and competitiveness, and how it impacts prices and quality of the services concerned, considering relevant indicators.