Commission proposal to strengthen the Single Market by tackling legal and administrative obstacles in Europe’s cross-border regions

On last 12rh December, the Commission adopted an amended proposal for a ‘Regulation on Facilitating Cross-Border Solutions’ in order to help Member States resolve obstacles that are impacting the daily lives of the 150 million European citizens living in Europe’s cross-border regions.

The obstacles that citizens, businesses, and public administrations face in these regions include different technical standards or national administrative and legal provisions that do not consider the cross-border dimension. These obstacles can impact the development of infrastructure and the operation of cross-border public services. Obstacles of this nature hamper the lives of cross-border communities, for example, by reducing access to healthcare services (including emergency) and limiting their ability to coordinate disaster response efforts and collaborate on joint infrastructure projects, amongst others.

Tackling these obstacles would significantly improve the functioning of the EU Single Market. A study funded by the Commission estimates that removing 20% of the current legal and administrative obstacles would boost GDP by 2% in cross-border regions and create over one million jobs.

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What the Regulation means in practice

The Commission proposes that Member States set up Cross-Border Coordination Points (CBCP), a new service which will assess any request submitted by border stakeholders on potential obstacles, and act as a liaison between them and the national authorities. The Regulation ensures that stakeholders receive a response after the assessment of each request, explaining how it will be treated.

If an obstacle does in fact exist and if there is no bilateral or international cooperation agreement in place that could be used to implement a solution, Member States can then apply the Cross-Border Facilitation Tool, a voluntary standard procedure designed to resolve administrative and legal obstacles in cross-border regions. While each request must be answered to, the decision on whether or not to resolve an obstacle remains the prerogative of the competent national authorities.

The Regulation also proposes creating a network of CBCPs alongside the Commission, to create a forum for exchanging best practices and sharing knowledge.

More information: press release – European Commission