What is the Services Directive?

The Services Directive is a European piece of legislation that aims at maximizing the benefits of the Single Market, by making life easier for businesses and consumers when providing or using services in the European Union. It requires all EU countries to lift unnecessary legal and administrative barriers that hinder businesses from setting up or offering their services in another EU country. The aim is to facilitate:

• the establishment of businesses in the services sector, i.e. cases where an individual entrepreneur or a business wants to set up a permanent establishment in an EU country  
• the cross-border provision of services, i.e. cases where a business already established in an EU country wants to supply services in another EU country, on a temporary basis, without setting up a permanent establishment there 
• the protection of service recipients. Service recipients, be they undertakers or consumers, benefit from better information on businesses and the services they offer. Consumers may not be discriminated on grounds of residence or nationality. 
• the administrative cooperation, by obliging Member States to apply rules on administrative cooperation, thus preventing unjustified barriers from arising. Member States are to provide mutual assistance and cooperation in the supervision of service providers, by using an electronic system for the exchange of information (IMI).

Furthermore, they are required to set up Single Points of Contact through which services providers can obtain relevant information and by electronic means complete all procedures relating to their activities.