Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The directive proposes to remove red tape by three measures. First, it proposes to carry out a systematic trawl of existing regulations in all 25 European Union member states and weed out the regulations that are unduly restrictive or anti-competitive. Second, it aims to allow businesses to register as a business in another country electronically via a single point of contact.

Third, the directive, as initiated, includes the country of origin provision in respect of enterprises which seek to deliver services in other member states but which do not wish to establish in them. This principle, which is based on the principle of mutual recognition, is already a cornerstone of the Single Market for goods. Goods that are deemed safe by the German or Czech Governments for their citizens can be sold in Ireland without having to be subjected to an entirely separate battery of costly checks and tests here. Similarly, the country of origin principle proposes that for a limited array of regulations relating to services provision, we should recognise German or Czech law as having broadly the same protective effect as Irish law without having to subject service providers to a separate set of checks and tests in Ireland.

Various other provisions are included in the directive, in particular those concerning co-operation arrangements between supervisory authorities and consumer protection structures aimed at ensuring both good corporate governance and consumer protection standards. Somehow these provisions — on which I accept much work remains to be done — seem to be overlooked by the critics of the directive.

We can have a very agitated debate about the country of origin principle, although this would amount to a great deal of wasted energy and hot air. All the indications are — and have been so for some months now — that the Commission intends to amend significantly that aspect of the directive. This only seems now to be getting through to the Opposition——

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