The Services Directive: The Challenge of Implementation and Management at Sub-State Level, Barcelona - Hoofdinhoud

TARGET GROUPS This Services Directive seminar is designed to meet the concrete needs of public and private players involved in completing the single market for services, as well as lawyers, academics, policy makers and experts who are keen to deepen their knowledge of this new instrument within a complex and multi-level European space.

DESCRIPTION During this intensive two-day programme, the most relevant academics and practitioners, as well as national and European decision makers, will meet and exchange their respective expertise. Based on proficient presentations and subsequent round tables, the participants and high-level speakers will have a unique opportunity to learn how to avoid expected pitfalls in implementing the Services Directive.

OBJECTIVES The seminar aims to provide genuine problem-solving guidance regarding the implementation and enforcement of the Services Directive in daily practice. As this seminar is mainly focused on regional and local concerns, it will bring together experiences and concrete challenges in completing the single market for services. The working sessions will address complex governance with a strong comparative and practitioner-oriented perspective.In order to best focus the content of the programme, our team has consulted a large number of stakeholders and identified the most urgent needs. A number of provisions of this directive are perceived to be of particular complexity, including vast sectors and issues within the jurisdiction and competences of sub-state level. Situations will be handled taking account of the diverse regional arrangements existing in the EU Member States.From a legal viewpoint, some aspects of the scope are still to be clarified. Such an issue will impact on administrative and business activities, as well as their present and future relations, as it will determine subsequent judicial reviews and case-law. Therefore, the seminar will shed further light on this issue, providing legal expertise and case study.The Services Directive also launches critical steps towards deeper European integration through highly demanding cross-border administrative cooperation. Legal but also technical hindrances and cultural habits are at stake. The seminar will help to clarify these questions through expert presentations and comparative exchanges.Additionally, we will meet recurrent requests for benchmarking opportunities regarding legal screening methodology and administrative simplification. The international dimension of the seminar will provide such an occasion.Overall, an optimal transposition (the deadline of which expires on 28 December 2009) will ease procedures and consolidate the success of EU territorial cooperation projects, as well as the opening up of markets to SMEs. The upcoming legislative developments will show whether or not European regional and local governance is well prepared for this extensive simplification and the required coordination efforts. This seminar intends to help participants to successfully take up a combination of current challenges.