The European Construction Industry welcomes the rejection of the proposed services ecard by the European Parliament
On 21 March 2018, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament rejected the report on the European Commission’s proposal to introduce a services e-card, amongst other things, in the construction industry. All other EP committees involved had already rejected the proposal.
Having opposed this proposed legislation for its sector, the construction industry is relieved that it was not welcomed by the European Parliament. The acceptance, by a majority of MEPs in IMCO, EMPL, JURI, ITRE and ECON, of the construction industry’s arguments and warnings against possible negative consequences of this proposed legislation must not be taken as opposition to the proper functioning of the Internal Market. On the contrary, it is an important signal that the Internal Market freedoms, the creation of a level playing field, appropriate tools to prevent abuse and fraud and the enforcement of the law have to go hand in hand, in order to be efficient and acceptable.
At the same time, this is also a clear indication that all efforts to develop and strengthen these aspects of the EU Internal Market are much more likely to succeed if they have been prepared in close cooperation with all the representative stakeholders of the industry sectors concerned.
