Council of the European Union: Extension of the EU Notification System to Eight Accession Countries

IRIS 2003-10:1/36

Eric Idema

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

The Council of the European Union has approved bilateral agreements between the European Community and the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia providing for the extension of the EU “notification” system to these accession countries. The notification system (regulated by Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC) enables Member States and the Commission to check that draft national technical regulations on products and rules on information society services will not create barriers to trade within the Internal Market (see IRIS 1998-8: 3). The directive obliges Member States to notify the Commission and the other Member States of all draft national technical regulations on products and of draft national regulations aimed specifically at information society services. Notified draft texts cannot be adopted at the national level for a period of three months, giving Member States and the Commission time to comment on them. This period can be extended to six months, if the Commission or a Member State expresses a “detailed opinion”. The system has proved to be an effective mechanism in avoiding barriers to trade and information society services.

By already adopting the notification system, the eight accession countries will have more time to adjust their administrative procedures and national regulatory practice, and thus be better prepared for joining the EU. The accession countries will use a slightly different version of the notification system up to 1 May 2004. It will only allow for comments and a single non-extendable standstill period of three months, as opposed to the system currently used in the EU, which also has room for detailed opinions and a possible extension of the waiting period. It is expected that the notification system will be extended to Hungary and Cyprus soon.