30 May

Ministers agreed on a general approach on the draft regulation to improve the application of the principle of mutual recognition in order to ensure that goods lawfully marketed in one Member State can be sold in any other Member State. Participants gave full support to the proposal and agreed that a more effective application of the mutual recognition principle is key to reducing trade barriers in the internal market.


Under the policy debate on the Regulation on Platforms-to-business relations ministers had the opportunity to express their views on the recent Commission proposal. Participants agreed with the analysis that there is a need to improve predictability and transparency of online platforms in order to exploit the potential of the online platform economy while promoting trust and ensuring better access of business users to cross-border markets.

The permanent competitiveness “check-up” agenda item focused on the linkages between the Internal Market and industrial competitiveness. According to the Member States, pharmaceuticals, digital and automotive industry are the most promising sectors, which have the greatest potential to improve competitiveness. At the same time, ministers draw attention to the imperfections of the Single Market, which is particularly true for energy market, transportation and services sector as a whole.

Commissioner Věra Jourová, provided information on the consumer protection package called „New Deal for Consumers”, which was adopted on 11 April 2018 by the Commission. State Secretary Krisztián Kecsmár welcomed the new proposals and supported their objectives. He welcomed the provisions of the package, which confirm that the practice of dual quality is misleading since any discrimination of consumers living in different parts of the Union is unacceptable.

As regards the on-going initiatives in the field of intellectual property, Emil Karanikolov, Bulgarian minister for economy provided an overview on the state of play of the negotiations concerning the Copyright Package. Moreover, Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska introduced the proposal for a regulation concerning the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for medicinal products, adopted on the day of the meeting. State Secretary Krisztián Kecsmár welcomed the Commission’s proposal and the introduction of the SPC manufacturing waiver for export purposes. He added to be convinced that it would contribute to saving European jobs, promoting growth and would prevent the relocation of the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products outside Europe, thus retaining the competitiveness of European generic medicine manufacturers.

Commissioner Věra Jourová presented the Company Law Package. The main objectives of the proposals are to enable entrepreneurs to set up and register a limited liability company and branch fully online, and to promote cross-border mobility of companies thus allowing the full exploitation of their business opportunities through a balanced legal framework.