1. Deputy Head of Unit Single Market Service Center DG GROW
Making the Single Market work on the ground I Information & help for citizens, businesses and public administrations
Javier Palmero Zurdo
Deputy Head of Unit Single Market Service Center DG GROW
23 October 2015

2. Theory and practice must go hand in hand, so while the EU laws and their national implementations set out the rules, the Single Market tools built over the last 10 to 15 years ensure their proper functioning on the ground, for citizens and businesses alike.

3. Bridge between EU law and daily practice
User perspective:
Cascade system
Clear signposting
Focus on the user
Policy perspective :
Practical tools for Single Market governance
Shared responsibility Member States/ Commission
As you saw in the video, we have developed a coherent offer of services:
cascade system of information, advice and problem-solving:
From YE, to YEA, to SOLVIT…
no overlap, no duplication – but synergies and efficient signposting, such as common intake form YEA/SOLVIT
user is guided according to its needs
services can focus on their core business, resources spent adequately

4. Better governance of the Single Market
What you can see now in the screen is the so called Single Market Govenance cycle. This shows what tools are at citizens' and businesses' disposal at different phases of the functioning of the Single Market:
Inform: the Your Europe web-portal provides jargon free information about EU rights and national rules related to the Single Market and Your Europe Advice provides free advice for specific situations, both for Citizens and Businesses; I am pleased to announce that we have now put Your Europe Citizens and Your Europe Business under the same roof, thereby increasing synergies and efficiency;
Connect: the Internal Market Information (IMI) system provides cross-border administrative cooperation via a multi-lingual IT tool, now covering 9 legislative areas, with 17 modules;
Solve: as you are aware, SOLVIT is an informal problem‑solving system for citizens and businesses, ahead of pre-infringement and infringement procedures;
Evaluate: the Single Market Scoreboard provides a comparative overview of Member States' Single Market performance and I am glad to announce that the yearly complete update of the Scoreboard will be made available later this month.
So these governance tools give us a very valuable insight in what works and what does not work in the daily practice of the Single Market, helping to improve related policies.

5. Your Europe & Your Europe Advice (Citizens and businesses)
Successful tools :
Your Europe & Your Europe Advice
VISITS TO YOUR EUROPE
(Citizens and businesses)
Statistics and regular feedback from end-users show that these tools are successful:
the number of visits to Your Europe portal is increasing at a steady pace, to currently over a million visits a month, and 90% of the users are satisfied with the services offered, according to our most recent survey; Your Europe attracts an ever increasing number of visitors (currently more than a million visits per month) and users are highly satisfied with what they get (more than 90% user satisfaction).The Your Europe web portal should play a key role in that context of the building of the Single Digital Gateway.
the Your Europe Advice network of experts based in Member States replied to more than enquiries in 2014 (around 7% more than in 2013);
The Your Europe portal offers reliable, practical and user-friendly information for businesses and citizens on their EU rights (European Commission) and on procedures and rules applicable at national level (Member States). It also provides access to specialised advice and problem solving mechanisms, such as SOLVIT, Your Europe Advice, the European Consumer Centres and the Enterprise Europe Network.

6. 60% more cases in 2014
SOLVIT is a key instrument to help individuals and businesses in a pragmatic way to make use of their EU rights within the Single Market. It contributes to a positive perception of the EU and is an additional tool to ensure the correct implementation of EU law by Member States.
SOLVIT handled 60% more cases last year than in 2013; in the course of its 12 years of existence, SOLVIT case flow has increased from around 200 to more than 1400 cases per year (1430 cases in 2013). On an average, more than 80% of all yearly cases concern one of these 3 policy areas: social security, free movement of persons and right to reside and recognition of professional qualifications.
Resolution rates are good and range between 80% to more than 90 % on average per year.

7. Internal Market Information System (IMI)
Cross-border administrative cooperation.
Covering 10 policy areas.
Almost 7600 information exchanges in
76% of requests answered under 10 days.
Launch of the European Professional Card (EPC), the first EU-wide on-line procedure, by 16/01/16.
IMI had 7600 information exchanges in 2014 compared to 5900 the year before.
The Internal Market Information system (IMI) is a multilingual IT tool designed to help authorities to communicate and cooperate on particular files, speeding up procedures for citizens and businesses wishing to operate on a cross-border basis.
IMI was developed by the Commission in 2008 initially to help implementation of the Services and Professional Qualifications Directives by allowing Member States to request and exchange information, and to send alerts and other notifications. It was deliberately designed to be easily adaptable to other areas. Member States have found it very useful and as a result, it has been extended so that it now covers 10 different policy areas (including posting of workers, euro cash transportation, cross-border healthcare, e-commerce, public procurement and cultural objects). It is strongly supported by the Council and the EP, and within the latter by the IMCO in particular.
The Commission is extending IMI to the European Professional Card project to be delivered in January There are ongoing discussions in the Council and EP on using it for the recognition of public documents – such as birth and marriage certificates –, non-road mobile machines and the European Foundation Statute.

8. Single Market Scoreboard
the Single Market Scoreboard is the key instrument when it comes to monitoring the performance of the Single Market. A recent report commissioned by this Parliament (Pelkmans 2014) and the latest Parliament report on Single Market governance within the European Semester 2015 (by Pelczné Gáll Ildikó) acknowledges this reporting system as a best practice. Since 2014, its scope has been expanded to also include economic and sector-level indicators, starting with public procurement and postal services. Efforts are ongoing to expand it further to cover major policy areas, with new indicators.

9. Challenges ahead: Maintain/Improve service quality Increase awareness
Use data for policy development
Increase synergies/ expand further
Awareness-raising and promotion are crucial to make:
information sources like YE more known
services like YEA more accessible
SOLVIT more used by those who need it
IMI more used by public authorities

10. Your Europe http://europa
Your Europe Your Europe Advice SOLVIT IMI Scoreboard
04/07/2019