12 January 2004

Commission claims disparities between Member States in implementing and applying rules

Member States are still failing to implement many EU Internal Market laws correctly and on time. According to the latest figures released by the European Commission, 131 Directives (around 8.5% of Internal Market Directives) have still not been implemented into national law in every Member State, though the deadlines agreed by the Member States themselves when they adopted the Directives have passed.

Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: 'It is disappointing that some Member States appear to consider that it is acceptable to regularly implement Directives late and to incorrectly apply commonly agreed rules.

With enlargement imminent, it is important that Member States respect their obligations to implement and apply commonly agreed rules, as the costs of fragmentation will increase significantly in an enlarged EU. Given the amount of time it takes to negotiate and adopt EU laws in the first place, such lengthy delays in putting Directives into effect cause enormous harm to businesses.

The average implementation deficit per Member State - the percentage of the total number of Internal Market Directives in force that has not been written into national law by the legal deadline is 2.3%, only a marginal improvement on the May 2003 figure of 2.4%.

France, Germany, Luxembourg and Greece continue to be among the worst performers and, with the exception of Greece, their deficits have got worse since May 2003.

Commission press release

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