Content of the Services Directive

Aim

The objective of the Services Directive is to release the untapped growth potential of services markets in Europe by removing legal and administrative barriers to trade in the services sector. The simplification measures foreseen by the Directive should significantly facilitate life and increase transparency for small and medium enterprises and consumers when they want to provide or use services in the single market.

Benefits for customers

The Services Directive also strengthens the rights of recipients of services, which can be both consumers and businesses. For instance, it prohibits discriminatory conditions based on the nationality or residence of the service recipient, such as discriminatory tariffs. It also lays down a set of measures to promote a high quality of services and to enhance information and transparency relating to service providers and their services.

Finally, the Services Directive obliges the Member States to cooperate with each other in order to ensure efficient supervision of providers and their services.

What does the Services Directive provide for as regards consumers?

The Services Directive provides for a number of advantageous novelties for service recipients, including in particular consumers, such as:

• Abolition of national requirements restricting the use of a service supplied by a provider established in another Member State (e.g. the obligation for service recipients to obtain a specific authorisation to receive services provided from another Member State are prohibited).
• Service providers are not allowed to discriminate, in their general conditions of access to a service, amongst recipients on the basis of their nationality or place of residence; this is particularly relevant in the e-commerce context.
• Setting-up of a network of assistance bodies which upon request will give persons thinking of using service providers from other Member States general information about the requirements applicable in that other Member State, means of redress and contact details of associations or organisations from which providers or recipients may get practical assistance.
• Service providers will have to make easily available to recipients key information about themselves and their services, so that service recipients, in particular consumers, will be clearly informed about who they are dealing with, what services are being offered and under what conditions and prices.
• Service providers must make available to recipients a whole set of information, including the name of the register in which the provider is enrolled and the professional rules applicable (in case of a regulated profession). In this way, consumers and businesses will benefit from being able to make informed decisions when using services from other Member States.

Activities covered by the Service Directive

The Services Directive covers a wide range of service activities. As a general rule, it applies to all activities and sectors that are not expressly excluded from its scope of application. Relevant examples of activities and sectors covered by the Services Directive include:

• Retail and commerce e.g. supermarkets and other commercial establishments, trade fairs and itinerant sales;
• Construction e.g. building companies, insulation activities;
• Real estate e.g. real estate agencies, auctions, conveyance;
• Services linked to agriculture and forestry e.g. support activities for crop production such as fumigation services or harvesting services; post-harvesting crop activities; veterinaries and biological laboratories;
• Services related to industry e.g. installation and maintenance of machines, industrial cleaning;
• Education services e.g. private schools and private universities, language schools;
• Tourism and leisure e.g. restaurants, bars, travel agencies, hotels, amusement parks;
• Professional services e.g. lawyers, architects, engineers, veterinaries;
• Crafts e.g. carpenters, plumbers, frame-makers, repair and maintenance services;
• Knowledge-based services to businesses e.g. management consultancy, advertising, certification, testing, training;
• Social services provided by private operators e.g. childcare, care for the elderly, household support;
• Culture-related services e.g. private museums and libraries, theatres, concerts, organisation of open air events;
• Sport and fitness e.g. gyms, spas;
• Services ancillary to healthcare e.g. supply and maintenance of medical equipment, laboratories working for hospitals;
• Services related to, but distinct from transport, e.g. car rental, removal services, driving schools, aerial photography, organisation of bus tours;
• Intellectual property-related services, e.g. administration of IP rights by collecting societies, services offered by patent attorneys.

The Services Directive does not apply to:

• Financial services;
• Electronic communications services and networks;
• Services in the field of transport (but services which are related to - albeit distinct from- transport, such as driving school services, leisure flights, etc., are covered);
• Services of temporary work agencies (but placement and recruitment services are covered);
• Healthcare services provided by health professionals to patients to assess, maintain or restore their state of health where those activities are reserved to a regulated health profession (but services that are not directly intended for the treatment of patients – e.g. veterinary services – or are not reserved to a regulated health profession or are provided to healthcare institutions or healthcare staff are covered);
• Audiovisual services and radio broadcasting;
• Gambling activities;
• Social services relating to social housing, childcare and support of families and persons permanently or temporarily in need which are provided by the State, by providers mandated by the State or by charities recognised as such by the State (but when social services are provided by a private operator, they are covered);
• Private security services (but those services which are not security services as such, for ex. the sale or installation of security devices or the manned monitoring of property or persons from a distance through electronic devices are covered);
• Services provided by notaries and bailiffs, who are appointed by an official act of government.

The Services Directive will not affect private international law, particularly not on rules that ensure consumer protection under the laws of their home countries.