The essence of the EU’s internal market

What is the essence of the internal market, often (aspirationally) called the single market in English (although this distinction not made in all of the official languages of the European Union)?

Social market economy

Among the aims of the European Union we find “a highly competitive social market economy” in Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU):

3.   The Union shall establish an internal market. It shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. It shall promote scientific and technological advance.

Free movement x 4

Instead of being confined to the national markets, the factors of production are supposed to move without obstacles in the internal market. Article 26(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) expresses the goal in the form of four - not only one - freedoms of movement, also known as the four freedoms:

2.   The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties.

Non-discrimination

Non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality is central to the tearing down of obstacles in the union generally and the internal market specifically. From Article 18 TFEU:

Within the scope of application of the Treaties, and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein, any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited.

CJEU

These basic principles, other treaty provisions and the rest of the EU legislation (acquis) have been brought to life by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

EEA

The European Economic Area (EEA) extends the internal markets to three of the four EFTA states: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Switzerland, the fourth member of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), has more limited access to the internal market based on bilateral agreements with the EU.

Brexit

According to Eurostat the population of the internal market was 515,640,100 at the beginning of 2016 (EU + EEA). If Brexit means that the population of the whole United Kingdom (about 65 million) leaves the internal market (not only the EU, but the EEA as well), about 450 million would remain, somewhat smaller than the combined 480,516,824 population (2016 estimate) of the less integrated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries Canada, Mexico and the USA.

 

Summary

The aim of the internal market, which consists of 31 countries with a total population of 515 million, is a highly competitive social market economy by the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital and the prohibition of all discrimination on grounds of nationality.

Ralf Grahn

European Economic Area (EEA) in practice

The European Economic Area (EEA) extends the four freedoms of the European Community to the EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, giving them access to an internal market of 30 states and almost 500 million people. Agriculture and fisheries are excluded, but the EFTA EEA countries cooperate in other policy areas as well.

The basic document is the Agreement on the European Economic Area. More information is available on the EFTA web pages about the EEA Agreement.



Quick overviews are offered by a number of EEA fact sheets.


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Technical adaptation

The European Community (European Union) legislation in the relevant areas is constantly evolving. The purpose of this blog post is limited: to show how “technical” new provisions are adopted by the non-EU members. Article 98 of the EEA Agreement spells out the mechanism for amending the Annexes to the Agreement, as well as the Protocols mentioned:

Article 98

The Annexes to this Agreement and Protocols 1 to 7, 9 to 11, 19 to 27, 30 to 32, 37, 39, 41 and 47, as appropriate, may be amended by a decision of the EEA Joint Committee in accordance with Articles 93 (2), 99, 100, 102 and 103.



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In practice

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 28.5.2009 L 130 offers examples of recent Decisions by the EEA Joint Committee, numbers 21 to 39/2009 amending Annexes.


Joint Committee Decision 40/2009 amends Protocol 31 on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms.



Ralf Grahn

EU procurement: Equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency

Cavalier or corrupt contracting authorities are a menace to the public purse, taxpayer value and competitive businesses.

Is the European Community (European Union) concerned with public procurement only above certain threshold levels?

For those interested in good public governance and value for money, it is a relief to know that some common principles apply to all public contracts within the European Economic Area (EEA).




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Article 2 principles

Article 2 of the Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC reminds us of three principles, which apply to public procurement, namely equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency:

Article 2
Principles of awarding contracts

Contracting authorities shall treat economic operators equally and non-discriminatorily and shall act in a transparent way.


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Recital 2

Recital 2 of the Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC, also known as the Classic Directive, explains that the provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) apply to all public procurement contracts. However, above certain threshold levels more detailed harmonised EC (EU) secondary legislation kicks in:


(2) The award of contracts concluded in the Member States on behalf of the State, regional or local authorities and other bodies governed by public law entities, is subject to the respect of the principles of the Treaty and in particular to the principle of freedom of movement of goods, the principle of freedom of establishment and the principle of freedom to provide services and to the principles deriving therefrom, such as the principle of equal treatment, the principle of non-discrimination, the principle of mutual recognition, the principle of proportionality and the principle of transparency. However, for public contracts above a certain value, it is advisable to draw up provisions of Community coordination of national procedures for the award of such contracts which are based on these principles so as to ensure the effects of them and to guarantee the opening-up of public procurement to competition. These coordinating provisions should therefore be interpreted in accordance with both the aforementioned rules and principles and other rules of the Treaty.


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Treaty provisions


Here we look briefly at some of the main treaty provisions, which apply to public procurement contracts. (More detail can be found, in the light of the Lisbon Treaty, in previous blog posts on individual Articles.)


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Article 2 TEC Common market

Article 2 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) states:

The Community shall have as its task, by establishing a common market…


The common market is the original concept enshrined in the Treaty of Rome (EEC Treaty). Since the Single European Act (SEA) it has gradually been replaced by the term internal market in the treaty and secondary legislation. (The Commission seems to favour the single market.) The Treaty of Lisbon would replace the common market by the internal market throughout.


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Article 3 TEC Community activities


Article 3 TEC sets out Community activities based on the objectives (tasks) mentioned in the previous Article. At least the following are relevant to the common market (internal market) and consequently to public procurement:

Article 3 TEC (parts)

1. For the purposes set out in Article 2, the activities of the Community shall include, as provided in this Treaty and in accordance with the timetable set out therein:

(a) the prohibition, as between Member States, of customs duties and quantitative restrictions on the import and export of goods, and of all other measures having equivalent effect;

(b) a common commercial policy;

(c) an internal market characterised by the abolition, as between Member States, of obstacles to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital;

(d) measures concerning the entry and movement of persons as provided for in Title IV;

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(g) a system ensuring that competition in the internal market is not distorted;

(h) the approximation of the laws of Member States to the extent required for the functioning of the common market;

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Four freedoms

The four market freedoms – free movement of goods, persons, services and capital – meet the material scope of the Procurement Directive, which concerns the execution of works (buildings and civil engineering works), the supply of products (goods) and the provision of services.

The ECJ has given the fundamental treaty principles concrete meaning based on the specific treaty provisions.


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Free movement of goods

TEC Articles 23 to 31 contain the main principles regarding the free movement of goods.

Article 28 TEC prohibits all restrictions on imports an all measures having equivalent effect between member states.


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Free movement of services

The free movement of services is set out in Articles 49 to 55 TEC.

Article 49 TEC prohibits restrictions on the freedom to provide services in another member state.


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Right of establishment

Restrictions on the freedom of establishment of nationals of a member state in another member state are prohibited according to Article 43 TEC (to Article 48 TEC).


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Free movement for workers

Articles 39 to 42 TEC aim at securing the free movement for workers within the Community.


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Non-discrimination

The four freedoms can be seen as expressions of a principle of equal treatment of all economic actors and persons within the internal market.

Equality comprises both (active) equal treatment and (passive) absence of discrimination.

Normally, acts in breach of the specific market freedoms also constitute discrimination on grounds of nationality, but in any case the fundamental prohibition against discrimination on grounds of nationality stands as a reminder to contracting authorities and as an anchor for economic operators from other member states:


Article 12 TEC

Within the scope of application of this Treaty, and without prejudice to any special provisions
contained therein, any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited.

The Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, may adopt rules
designed to prohibit such discrimination.


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Interpretative Communication

If a public contract falls within the scope of the Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC, the detailed rules apply to the award procedure above the thresholds.

The Commission has offered guidance on public procurement procedures in cases where the specific rules of the Directives do not apply:

Commission Interpretative Communication on the Community law applicable to contract awards not or not fully subject to the provisions of the Public Procurement Directives (OJ 1.8.2006 C 179/2).


The Interpretative Communication refers to the EU-wide competitive tendering procedures set up in the Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC and the Utilities Directive 2004/17/EC, but refers to two kinds of contracts that are not or only partially covered by the Directives:

— Contracts below the thresholds for application of the Public Procurement Directives;

— Contracts for services listed in Annex II B to Directive 2004/18/EC and in Annex XVII B to Directive 2004/17/EC that exceed the thresholds for application of these Directives.


(Concessions are a third such category, mentioned in footnote 3 on the first page.)


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Obligation of transparency

After summarizing the EC Treaty rules and the basic standards for the award of contracts, the Communication reminds the contracting entities (authorities) of the obligation to evaluate if an intended contract might potentially be of interest to economic operators located in other member states.

The Commission proceeds to deal with adequate advertising:

According to the ECJ, the principles of equal treatment and of non-discrimination imply an obligation of transparency which consists in ensuring, for the benefit of any potential tenderer, a degree of advertising sufficient to enable the market to be opened up to competition.

The obligation of transparency requires that an undertaking located in another Member State has access to appropriate information regarding the contract before it is awarded, so that, if it so wishes, it would be in a position to express its interest in obtaining that contract.


Ralf Grahn

EU TFEU: Freedom to provide services

Services represent between 60 and 70 per cent of economic activity within the single market of the European Community (European Union), and the free movement of services is one of the four fundamental market freedoms of the internal market. But actually achieving a free flow of services is proving to be a continuing endeavour for the European Commission and the European Court of Justice, as witnessed by the laborious birth of new legislation and the abundance of infringement procedures.

The Treaty of Lisbon preserves the treaty level provision opening up the Chapter on Services in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and extends co-decision to measures aimed at third country nationals.

We look at the different stages of the treaty reform process, and we list resources for further reading regarding the freedom to provide services.


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Arriving at Article 49 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), the intergovernmental conference (IGC) made the following amendments in the Treaty of Lisbon (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/55):

SERVICES

56) Article 49 shall be amended as follows:

(a) in the first paragraph, the words ‘State of the Community’ shall be replaced by ‘Member State’;

(b) in the second paragraph, the words ‘The Council may, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, extend’ shall be replaced by ‘The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, may extend’.

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The current Article 49 TEC forms the basis, so we turn to the latest consolidated version of the treaties, in OJ 29.12.2006 C 321 E/62:

CHAPTER 3
SERVICES

Article 49 TEC

Within the framework of the provisions set out below, restrictions on freedom to provide services within the Community shall be prohibited in respect of nationals of Member States who are established in a State of the Community other than that of the person for whom the services are intended.

The Council may, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, extend the provisions of the Chapter to nationals of a third country who provide services and who are established within the Community.

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We noticed from the TEC provision that we entered a new Chapter, and the Tables of equivalences confirm that the same holds true concerning the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

We make the few retouches agreed by the IGC 2007 expressly or horizontally to present the consolidated version of the provision:

Part Three ‘Policies and internal actions of the Union’

Title III (renumbered Title IV) ‘Free movement of persons, services and capital’

Chapter 3 ‘Services’

Article 49 TFEU (ToL), renumbered Article 56 TFEU

Within the framework of the provisions set out below, restrictions on freedom to provide services within the Union shall be prohibited in respect of nationals of Member States who are established in a Member State other than that of the person for whom the services are intended.

The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, may extend the provisions of the Chapter to nationals of a third country who provide services and who are established within the Union.

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The European Convention extended ‘European laws or framework laws’ (the ordinary legislative procedure) to the second paragraph of Article III-29 of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/33):

Subsection 3
Freedom to provide services

Article III-29 Draft Constitution

Within the framework of this Subsection, restrictions on freedom to provide services within the Union shall be prohibited in respect of nationals of Member States who are established in a Member State other than that of the person for whom the services are intended.

European laws or framework laws may extend this Subsection to nationals of a third country who provide services and who are established within the Union.

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The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe made a small change to the wording in the second paragraph of Article III-144, ‘to service providers who are nationals of a third state and’, but nothing else.

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We can see that the one substantive amendment was proposed by the European Convention.

Readers who enjoy a telegraphic style can, in this and other cases, turn to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) ‘A comparative table of the current EC and EU Treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon’ (Cm 7311). The text on Article 56 TFEU (49 ToL) sums it up neatly (page 9):

“Draws on Article 49 TEC. QMV already applies, decision-making moves to co-decision regarding extension to third country nationals.”

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Students of European Community (European Union) law have their texts, cases and materials to turn to, and they are available to everyone, but let us think of a general reader, for instance a person or business providing services, who wants to find relevant information on the web.

Here are a few pointers, taking into account that some readers may be interested in general principles, while others would prefer sector-specific information.

The Commission’s Internal Market web page ‘General principles: Freedom to provide services / Freedom of establishment’ offers a succinct introduction:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/principles_en.htm

There is a link to a ‘Guide to the Case Law of the European Court of Justice on Articles 49 et seq. EC Treaty: Freedom to Provide Services’, dated 1 January 2001, but with an update promised shortly.

Despite the late date of the last update of the page mentioned above (28 January 2008), we feel the need for fresh information. The web page ‘A Single Market for Services’ (last update 28 January 2008) offers a little bit more on the importance of services and secondary legislation:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/index_19_en.htm

But the main attraction of this web page is its collection of links to thematic pages starting to offer more specific answers:

General principles, leading on to infringement procedures 2005 – 2008:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/infringements/index_en.htm

Services Directive, while just an opening page, it contains links to specific questions and the related Posting of workers directive:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/services-dir/index_en.htm

Transparency of regulations, includes information on standards in the area of services:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/transparency/index_en.htm

Professional qualifications, opens up more specific links on the new system for recognition of professional qualifications and to sources of practical information and problem solving:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/index_en.htm

Financial services, deals with three major areas of economic activity – banking, insurance and securities – through links leading to more detailed information:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/index_24_en.htm

Postal services, a short introductory page with a host of links:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/post/index_en.htm

Business-related services, follows the pattern of general information and links to further information:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/brs/index_en.htm

E-commerce, basic information and additional links on electronic commerce:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/e-commerce/index_en.htm

Media, where the opening page ‘Media in the information society’ has a few additional links:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/media/index_en.htm

Gambling, a highly lucrative and therefore contested area of services, where governments at all levels and private service providers vie for the money willingly offered by a gullible public. The Commission page contains links to a study on gambling and a list of infringement procedures:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/gambling_en.htm

Pharmacy services, contains links to a study on pharmacy, but you may remember that for instance Sweden has been forced to re-think its state monopoly following an ECJ ruling:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/pharmacy_en.htm

Services of general interest, links to a web site dedicated to services of general interest and to a few more related web pages:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/index_41_en.htm

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All in all, I would say that the European Commission is not bad at presenting information about the different policy areas of the European Community (European Union), and many of the web pages are fairly well updated, but it is not always easy to find the specific information you need, and you may need both time and patience to find your way in the maze.


Ralf Grahn

EU TFEU: Internal market

Entrepreneurs and businesses may have found little of direct interest in the institutional wrangling over institutional issues of the European Union, except for the realisation that improved workings of the EU provide a better framework for decisions concerning the security of firms and individuals, too.

The Lisbon Treaty preserves and modernises the treaty provisions of more immediate interest to persons who work within the Union, who trade in goods or services within the large free trade area or who invest outside their national borders.

The key concepts are the ‘internal market’ and the ‘four freedoms’.

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In the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) the intergovernmental conference (IGC 2007) marked the transition to a new and substantial part of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). Under its new name, the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU), sports new headings for the Part and its first Title (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/52):

39) In the heading of Part Three, the words ‘AND INTERNAL ACTIONS’ shall be inserted after ‘POLICIES’.

INTERNAL MARKET

40) A Title I, with the heading ‘THE INTERNAL MARKET’ shall be inserted at the beginning of Part Three.

41) An Article 22a shall be inserted, with the wording of Article 14. Paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1. The Union shall adopt measures with the aim of establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaties.’.

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In order to understand the intended changes, we go to Part One Principles and the Article being amended, Article 14 TEC (in the latest consolidated version of the TEU and the TEC, OJ 29.12.2006 C 321 E/48-49):

Article 14 TEC

1. The Community shall adopt measures with the aim of progressively establishing the internal market over a period expiring on 31 December 1992, in accordance with the provisions of this Article and of Articles 15, 26, 47(2), 49, 80, 93 and 95 and without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty.

2. The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty.

3. The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, shall determine the guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned.

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Our aim is to find out what the amended treaty is supposed to look like. This we do by merging the express and horizontal (points 2(a), 2(b) and 2(d)) amendments with the current text as well as checking the future numbering of the Article:

Part Three Union policies and internal actions

Title I The internal market

Article 22a TFEU (ToL), renumbered Article 26 TFEU

1. The Union shall adopt measures with the aim of establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaties.

2. The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties.

3. The Council, on a proposal from the Commission, shall determine the guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned.

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For the sake of easy comparison we take note of the preceding stages of treaty reform. The European Convention, in Part III The policies and functioning of the Union, placed Title III Internal policies and action, Chapter 1 Internal market, Section 1 Establishment of the Internal Market, with Article III-14 (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/30):

TITLE III
INTERNAL POLICIES AND ACTION

Chapter I
Internal market

Section 1
Establishment of the Internal Market

Article III-14 Draft Constitution

1. The Union shall adopt measures with the aim of establishing the internal market, in accordance with this Article, Article III-15, Article III-26(1) and Articles III-29, III-39, III-62, III-65 and III-143 and without prejudice to the other provisions of the Constitution.

2. The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the Constitution.

3. The Council of Ministers, on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt European regulations and decisions determining the guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned.

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The IGC 2004 shared this systematic approach, but merged the draft Constitution Articles III-14 and III-15 into one (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/58):

TITLE III
INTERNAL POLICIES AND ACTION

CHAPTER I
INTERNAL MARKET

SECTION 1
ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTIONING OF THE INTERNAL MARKET

Article III-130 Constitution

1. The Union shall adopt measures with the aim of establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution.

2. The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of persons, services, goods and capital is ensured in accordance with the Constitution.

3. The Council, on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt European regulations and decisions determining the guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned.

4. When drawing up its proposals for achieving the objectives set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, the Commission shall take into account the extent of the effort that certain economies showing differences in development will have to sustain for the establishment of the internal market and it may propose appropriate measures.

If these measures take the form of derogations, they must be of a temporary nature and must cause the least possible disturbance to the functioning of the internal market.

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The common market turned from a noble aim to an achievable goal when measures based on qualified majority voting became possible after the (initially twelve year) transitory period.

The original ‘common market’ and the later ‘internal market’ are both in use in the TEC (depending on when a provision was born), but according to horizontal amendment 2(g) of the Lisbon Treaty the words ‘common market’ shall be replaced by ‘internal market’ (throughout the Treaties).

The draft Constitution still mentioned the ‘aim of establishing the internal market’, but it relinquished the TEC mention of the target date ’31 December 1992’, linked to the Single European Act (1986).

The Constitution took the draft text one step further by ‘establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market’ in paragraph 1. In essence, the Lisbon Treaty adopts this text.

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The ‘four freedoms’ in paragraph 2 form the core of the internal market, and it is religiously upheld in every version from the current TEC (actually from the Treaty of Rome) to the Lisbon Treaty: The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty (now ‘the Treaties’).

If there is one thing every citizen of the European Union should know about EU law, in addition to the main institutional arrangements, it is the ‘four freedoms’:

The free movement of

Goods
Persons
Services
Capital

The four freedoms were present at the birth of the original EEC Treaty (Rome Treaty), then as the ‘common market’, and given added boost by the Single European Act. The target date of 31 December 1992 was important, but a seamless internal market is a perpetual quest.

The internal market may not work perfectly, and the tens of thousands of pages of secondary legislation may seem like a nightmare, but think of the alternatives.

Fifty years of efforts have brought about unprecedented harmonisation and recognition of standards within the European Community (Union).

The enlargement of the European Economic Community (EEC) of six into a European Community (Union) of 27 member states with the added three members of the European Economic Area (EEA), namely Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, has led to the largest and most advanced free trade area of the world.

The ‘tons of EC rules’ (directives) achieve some sort of proportions if you think that you or your firm would have to grapple with 30 different rulebooks.

The attraction of the internal market does not stop at the present EU borders. A few states are officially on course for membership, adapting to the common rules. Then there is a number of prospective applicants pursuing voluntary harmonisation.

Some sort of influence is spread through various cooperation agreements: European Neighbourhood Policy, Mediterranean policy (Barcelona process), and African, Caribbean and Pacific states (APC).

European rules and standards are important enough to merit serious attention from exporters around the world. With existing internal concepts and a common trade policy, the European Union fills the basic requirements to ‘export’ its values in more formal settings, like bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.

Despite its imperfections, the internal market is a global success story, built on the acceptance of supranational rules as means to enhance common prosperity.

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Since the foundation the specific legal bases for ‘measures’ is given in paragraph 1, someone may wonder what the ‘guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned’ in the third paragraph are all about.

Paragraph 3 seems to exist as an option for long term strategies or programmes, which would serve to improve the internal market and the balance between different industrial and service sectors. This would offer the Commission a framework for future preparatory work (but may be satisfactorily covered by existing policy and work programmes).

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Even if the main thrust is one, essential, part of the internal market – competition – there is reason to take note of the Protocol on the internal market and competition, annexed to the Lisbon Treaty (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/154):

PROTOCOL
ON THE INTERNAL MARKET AND COMPETITION

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,

CONSIDERING that the internal market as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union includes a system ensuring that competition is not distorted,

HAVE AGREED that:

to this end, the Union shall, if necessary, take action under the provisions of the Treaties, including under Article 308 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

This protocol shall be annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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An introductory tour of the internal market can start from the EU Single Market web pages. Yes, the Commission seems to prefer the concept ‘single market’. Go to:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/index_en.htm

This is a good starting point for ‘everything’, from the general policy framework to topical headlines.


Ralf Grahn