The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on an own-initiative report drafted by Małgorzata Maria HANDZLIK (EPP-ED, PL) on the internal market in the new Member States. (Please refer to the document of 16/03/2005.) Parliament suggested that, in addition to the timely and correct transposition and effective application of Internal Market directives, Member States should also carry out a screening of their existing domestic legislation for compatibility with EU rules, in aid of the process of removing market barriers and opening up competition in the Internal Market.

Parliament called on the national authorities of the new Member States to improve their administrative capacity so to reduce the gap between formal compliance and actual enforcement of Community legislation.

On the question of patent protection, Parliament called on the Council, in view of the critical importance of ensuring intellectual property protection for inventions involving digital technology, to work more closely with the European Parliament on the approval of a new patent measure that will provide a secure framework for the patentability of technical inventions in this field.

Parliament asked the new Member States to ensure that out-of-court settlement instruments and problem-solving instruments, such as SOLVIT, receive proper financial support for their operation in order to ensure that European undertakings have tools at their disposal to solve the problems they might encounter following the development of the Internal Market.

Finally, Parliament stated its conviction that updates on the status of transposition should be made available more often. These updates should complement the Internal Market Scoreboard and be used to create a name and shame list of all the Member States who are lagging behind in the transposition process. The Scoreboard should be upgraded to European Council level and be recognised on a political level as the main point of reference for the status of transposition.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on an own-initiative report drafted by Małgorzata Maria HANDZLIK (EPP-ED, PL) on the internal market in the new Member States. (Please refer to the document of 16/03/2005.) Parliament suggested that, in addition to the timely and correct transposition and effective application of Internal Market directives, Member States should also carry out a screening of their existing domestic legislation for compatibility with EU rules, in aid of the process of removing market barriers and opening up competition in the Internal Market.

Parliament called on the national authorities of the new Member States to improve their administrative capacity so to reduce the gap between formal compliance and actual enforcement of Community legislation.

On the question of patent protection, Parliament called on the Council, in view of the critical importance of ensuring intellectual property protection for inventions involving digital technology, to work more closely with the European Parliament on the approval of a new patent measure that will provide a secure framework for the patentability of technical inventions in this field.

Parliament asked the new Member States to ensure that out-of-court settlement instruments and problem-solving instruments, such as SOLVIT, receive proper financial support for their operation in order to ensure that European undertakings have tools at their disposal to solve the problems they might encounter following the development of the Internal Market.

Finally, Parliament stated its conviction that updates on the status of transposition should be made available more often. These updates should complement the Internal Market Scoreboard and be used to create a name and shame list of all the Member States who are lagging behind in the transposition process. The Scoreboard should be upgraded to European Council level and be recognised on a political level as the main point of reference for the status of transposition.

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by Malgorzata HANDZLIK (EPP-ED, PL) on the internal market in the new Member States. The report pointed out that the internal market can only be genuinely complete if all Member States transpose and enforce the relevant directives, and that late or incorrect transposition deprives businesses and consumers of the full economic benefits of this market. It therefore called for the transposition and implementation - where overdue - of all internal market directives so that the new enlarged European market can realise its full potential. The 1.5% target suggested by the European Councils for the transposition deficit should be "taken seriously" by all Member States. Updates on the status of transposition should be made more often, as a complement to the Internal Market Scoreboard, and should be used to create a "name and shame list" of all the Member States lagging behind in the transposition process.

MEPs added that the transposition and implementation process would be greatly helped by the streamlining and simplification of existing Community legislation.

To achieve the goals set by the Lisbon Strategy, the committee suggested that the new Member States increase their investment in R&D, promote better contact between research institutions and businesses, and improve the quality of the labour market through more efficient education and training systems. Emphasis should also be placed on ensuring an effective intellectual property regime. Other recommendations included building an effective professional qualifications system and disseminating information on the new legislation among consumers, producers, traders and courts.