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GAZETTE
FEBRUARY
1989
First, Member States will no
longer need to monitor internal
policies which themselves conflict
with EEC rules.
Secondly, it is anticipated that by
1992 intra-Community road trans-
port will no longer be subject to
quotas thus obviating the need for
Member States to check move-
ments of goods vehicles across
frontiers.
The other main justifications for
maintaining border posts, such as
monitoring the movement of goods
and people for statistical purposes,
health reasons and prevention of
crime will be dealt with by removing
the control of those activities
wherever possible from border areas.
Goods - Technical Barriers
Removing border controls is not
sufficient to guarantee a genuine
Common Market. Technical barriers
must also go to achieve the aim
that if a product is lawfully
manufactured and marketed in one
Member State, there is no reason
why it should not be sold freely
throughout the Community.
The Commission has largely
abandoned the aim of setting
harmonised standards for each and
every product. In future, the
Commission will press Member
States to recognise other
countries' standards and allow
goods to circulate freely on the
basis of this mutual recognition of
national regulations and standards.
Where the Commission does
proceed to harmonise standards, it
will restrict itself to laying down
essential health and safety
requirements: this approach will
apply to veterinary controls, food
products, chemicals and pharma-
ceuticals, electrical items, construc-
tion products and motor vehicles.
The proposals are still extensive
and too numerous to spell out in
this article. But, by way of example,
in the food law area, directives will
cover:
- labelling,
to ensure customers
are given the necessary
information and so are not
misled:
- additives, flavourings,
etc.
covering all items not already
dealt with in EEC directives:
- containers
coming into contact
with food;
- quick frozen foods;
- controlling the use of the
irradiation
process.
New European standards for
many products (measuring instru-
ments, pressure vessels, toys, to
name but a few) will be worked out
by European standards bodies,
such as CEN and CENELEC. The
National Standards Authority of
Ireland encourages representation
by Irish manufacturing and other
interests on the relevant CEN and
CENELEC technical committees.
Since in many cases Irish manu-
facturers will have to adapt to
standards already familiar to their
competitors it is essential that early
familiarity with these standards is
obtained by participation.
Public Purchasing
EEC rules adopted in 1971 already
require government departments
and local authorities to allow
suppliers or contractors from any
Member State to bid for contracts
over a certain size - 200,000 ECU
(about £140,000) for supply
contracts and 1 million ECU (about
£700,000) for works contracts.
Measures proposed would:
- remove or reduce the excluded
sectors, such as water, trans-
port, energy and telecommuni-
cations;
- extend publicity requirements so
that potential suppliers and
contractors from throughout the
Community have an opportunity
to bid for contracts:
- give "losing" bidders a means of
complaining and taking action
against non-complying author-
ities.
Financial Sarvicas
There are more barriers to free
trade in financial services than in
most other areas of economic
activity. Examples of restrictions
include bans on individuals taking
mortgage loans
from foreign lenders,
requiring
property insurance
to be
obtained from national insurers,
and marketing of
unit trusts.
The Commissions proposals are
far reaching and will enable finan-
cial services companies based in
any part of the EC to market their
services throughout the EC. It is at
least partly in this context that the
proposed financial services centre
is being established in the Custom
House Docks area in Dublin.
The fields to be covered by the
liberalisation process are numer-
ous, but include:
Banking:
The remaining barriers faced by
banks wishing to establish in
other countries will be removed.
Thus a single banking licence
obtained in one country will
enable a bank to market its
services throughout the twelve
member states.
Mortgage Credit
Equally some loan institutes will,
subject to compliance with the
EEC standards, be able to offer
loans to house purchasers in
other countries.
Securities
Common standards will be
established for disclosure for
investors by means of prospec-
tuses: issuers will be able to use
standard documents in each
country rather than satisfying a
number of different stock
exchange requirements.
Unit Trusts
The 1985 directive allowing unit
trusts to be marketed freely in
the Community will take effect
in 1989.
Insurance
Many harmonising directives in
the insurance field have already
been adopted. Insurers in the
non-life area will eventually be
able to cover risks in any
Member State (although widely
differing rules at present may
delay this aim beyond the magic
date of 31st December 1992).
Transport Services
The Commission is proposing to
phase out the quota system for
road transport
leading to
substantial reductions in costs.
Measures to promote greater
freedom in air and maritime
transport, road passenger transport
and railways between Member
States will also be adopted.
Traditional national monopolies in
all areas of transport will be opened
up to competition from the private
sector and from other countries.
Information Technology
The Commission has already
submitted proposals to the Council
for the establishment of
common
standards
for IT equipment which
will be developed by the Inter-
national Standards Organisation (of
which Eolas which incorporates the
National Standards Authority of
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