European Business Law, the fourth volume in our series, shows how the European authorities simultaneously abolish all restrictions on access to and exercise of economic activities and support the growth of domestic markets, through the harmonization the internal legislation or the enactment of genuinely unified regulations.

European Business Law

In order to eliminate obstacles to trade in services and favor the development of cross-border operations, the Council has adopted the Services Directive , which establishes horizontal harmonization for the freedom of establishment of service providers and the free movement of services in the Member States and constitutes the first general binding provision applicable in that field. The directive is aimed at removing discriminatory barriers, reducing bureaucracy, modernizing and simplifying the legal and administrative processes - in particular by recourse to information technologies - and making systematic the administrative cooperation between the administrations of the Member States (Art. 28 to 36). The Member States must notably remove all total prohibitions on commercial communications by the regulated professions (Art. 24). The Services Directive does not repeal the sectoral directives applicable in specific domains or to specific professions.

Directive No 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market, OJ 27 December 2006, L 376, 36 to 68, Article 4(1) and (5).

104. Services Directive and sectoral directives