Activities of Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE related to 2016/0402(COD)
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (29)
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) Requirements remain in place which make expansion of service providers' operations across the internal market burdensome and unappealing, such as multiple and disparate authorisation schemes before different authorities, which, regarding establishment, fail to achieve mutual recognition of conditions previously complied with in other Member States or, regarding temporary cross-border provision of services apply disproportionate or unjustified restrictions. Furthermore self-employed workers providing cross-border services who need to have a specific professional qualification come up against further barriers in respect of recognition of their professional qualification. As a consequence, service providers face multiple and disproportionate compliance costs when going cross-border.
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) In order to make it easier to take up and pursue service activities, this Directive builds upon Directive 2006/123/EC but does in no way amend its rules. The scope of this Directive is even more limited compared to the scope laid down in the Services Directive. It specifically targets business and construction service sectors, where many obstacles to cross-border activities still remainpersist in the companies concerned. In addition, cross- border trade and investment in construction and several business services are low and both sectors have seen weak productivity growth over the last decade.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 10 a (new)
Recital 10 a (new)
(10a) This Directive should apply only to undertakings that supply services. Provision of services on a temporary basis by self-employed workers should be made subject to recognition of their professional qualifications under Directive 2005/36/EC of the Parliament and of the Council.
Amendment 99 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) The main purpose of the European services e-card is to introduce a uniform and simplified procedure for service providers wishing to expand provision of services across internal market borders. The e-card represents an electronic certificate stating that a service provider is legally established in a Member State (the home Member State). Host Member States whereto which 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, provided that they comply with the principles and standards laid down in Directive 2005/36/EC on professional qualifications, to control access to or exercise of service activities, which is already the object of control before issue of a European services e-card.
Amendment 103 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) Certain requirements and related authorisations and notifications governed by Directive 2006/123/EC should not be the object of controls in the context of issuing a European services e-card given their complexity or the involvement of third actors which the uniform procedural workflow of the European services e-card cannot suitably accommodate. This concerns selection procedures for granting authorisations limited in number and controls of site-specific conditions, be it for the site of actual provision of services or for the site where the provider establishes its operations. Similarly a European services e-card is also not suited to accommodate selection procedures for the performance of public contracts, public design contests or concessions.
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) A European services e-card provides several advantages. It offers a proof of legal establishment in the home Member State. As long as a European services e-card remains valid, it should constitute a valid means of proof throughout the EU of legal establishment in the home Member State for the services covered by that e-card. Such proof should even be accepted in a domestic context, across all levels and administrative divisions of public administration. A valid European services e-card includes information which is often required in different contexts, such as controls applicable during or after the performance of services, the award of a public contract, a public design contest or a concession, formation of subsidiaries or registration of branches under company law and registration of the service provider with mandatory social insurance schemes. Since that information is already available in a valid European services e-card, Member State authorities should not request this information from e- card holders for these other purposes.
Amendment 107 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17 a (new)
Recital 17 a (new)
(17a) The European professional card may be extended to professions other than the five concerned at present. The card should be deemed the most appropriate means for self-employed workers subject to Directive 2015/36/EC who wish to provide their services in EU Member States.
Amendment 108 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) In addition, Member States should not be allowed to impose on holders of a European services e-card any service provision related authorisation or notification schemes prior to a service provision, other than what is provided for in the principles and standards laid down in Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of professional qualifications, and paying particular attention to the necessity of said qualifications being recognised in order to be able to provide a service. Member States should not repeat, wholly or partially, controls previously performed in the context of issuing the European services e-card once provision of services has started in the host Member State. Authorisation or notification schemes such as those deriving from taxation, social security and labour law shall remain applicable as such matters are excluded from the scope of this Directive. Ex-post checks, inspections and investigations initiated by competent authorities should however remain admissible to control service performance, as under current EU Law. If such controls reveal serious breaches of requirements applicable in a host Member State, this could lead to the suspension or revocation of the European services e-card.
Amendment 112 #
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. They should pay particular attention to requirements regarding specific professional qualifications of employees and partners and recognition of same in order to be able to provide the service concerned. The coordinating authority of the host Member State should ensure the provider not only knows which requirements govern performance of services in the host Member States, including those applicable once it obtains the European services e-card, but that it also meets all said requirements. 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 118 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) Equivalence between requirements of a host Member State and those requirements of the home Member State the applicant has already complied should be an integral part of this assessment, focusing on the professional qualifications required of company employees and staff members. In order to facilitate the assessment of the equivalence of requirements in home and host Member States, where the authority of the host Member State declares its intention to refuse an e-card for establishment, the applicant should have a renewed possibility to prove that it meets the conditions laid down in the prior authorisation or prior notification on the basis of which the authorities of the host Member States base their intention to refuse the e-card, including through requirements to which the applicant is subject in the home Member State and which they deem to be equivalent.
Amendment 119 #
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 y out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level and that those consultations be conducted, especially with professional and sectoral bodies, in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law- Makingof 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 their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 35
Recital 35
(35) The host Member State should no longerwill be able to control whether the applicant for a European services e-card is legally established in another Member State. Nor should it and put into question the veracity and validity of the data and documents included in an application, once validated by the coordinating authority of the home Member State. Conversely, tThe coordinating authority of the home Member State shouldwill in turn be able to not assess whether it issues a European services e-card for temporary cross-border provisions of services based on compliance by the provider of host Member State requirements, rather it should only and will assess of whether the applicant is legally established in its territory for the provision of the service in question at the time the decision to issue is made, taking into account a number of factors, including the professional qualifications of the company employees and staff members applying for the card. The home Member State will be obliged to confirm the information within two weeks.
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 42
Recital 42
(42) A European services e-card should be valid for an indefinite period in36 months and renewed automatically for the same period an indefinite number of times, without prejudice to, in relation to temporary cross- border services, the effects of case-by-case derogations in accordance with Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 140 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. This Directive shall apply only to undertakings that supply services and shall exclude self-employed workers, who shall, for the provision of services on a temporary basis, be subject to recognition of their professional qualifications under Directive 2005/36/EC of the Parliament and of the Council.
Amendment 145 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)
1a. 'European Professional Card': as defined in Article 13.II.(K) of Directive 2010/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;
Amendment 149 #
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 established in the territory of his home Member State and is fully and legally entitled, in that territory, to provide the service activities covered by the e-card.
Amendment 156 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point i
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point i
(i) the award of a public contract, a public design contest or a concession;
Amendment 161 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
A European services e-card shall be valid for an indefinite duration36 months and shall be automatically renewable for an unlimited number of times, unless suspended, revoked or cancelled, in accordance with Articles 15 to 17.
Amendment 165 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
1. Providers of service activities subject to Directive 2005/36/EC, for which a European professional card for the temporary and occasional provision of services has been introduced, in accordance with Directive 2005/36/EC, shall not be eligible for a European services e-card for the provision of temporary cross-border services.
Amendment 172 #
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 177 #
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 and within a week at the latest the application to the coordinating authority of the host Member State, with information to the applicant.
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 12 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Amendment 211 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. This Article shall not apply to information regarding professional liability insurance provided by the service provider. The validity and duration of insurance must be communicated regularly to the coordinating authority.
Amendment 216 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Host Member States shall carry out regular random checks of e-cards issued by the coordinating authority to verify the validity of the information and documentation provided.
Amendment 228 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 1
Article 20 – paragraph 1
The Commission, with Member States, social partners, chambers of commerce, professional bodies 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 costs for providers, enhancing transparency about providers expanding cross-border and increasing competition, and how it impacts prices and quality of the services concerned, considering relevant indicators.
Amendment 249 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Section M – Division 71
Annex I – Section M – Division 71
Amendment 250 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Section M – Division 71 – Group 71.1
Annex I – Section M – Division 71 – Group 71.1
Amendment 251 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Section M – Division 74 – Group 74.1
Annex I – Section M – Division 74 – Group 74.1
Amendment 252 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Section M – Division 74 – Group 74.9
Annex I – Section M – Division 74 – Group 74.9