It has also been necessary to approach the formulation of the scheme in a manner that takes account of considerations that apply at EU level. These relate to matters such as observance of general EU legal principles of necessity and proportionality, competition rules and creation of the Single Market. It is widely known that plans for the regulation of our health insurance market have been the subject of fundamental differences with the British United Provident Association, BUPA, which entered the market in 1997. Given this and the fact that the operation of this country's private health insurance market is subject to EU obligations, the regulatory measures to be implemented have attracted close and recurring interest on the part of European Commission services.