Professional reform

The Commission says that while some countries have made reforms in this area, there are still many regulations that seriously hamper competition in the professional services marketplace. 

"Getting rid of anti-competitive regulatory restrictions will stimulate competition, providing consumers and businesses with better value for money, higher quality services and more choice," says Neelie Kroes, the EC Competition Commissioner.

The Commission initially commissioned a report that looked at six key areas that it said were overly regulated, including: lawyers, notaries, engineers, architects, pharmacists and accountants. While some countries, such as Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, have made good progress with reforms, seven countries - Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Malta, Spain and Sweden - have done little or nothing. Poland is hardly a leading example, as the most it can boast is that some analytical work is underway.

The Commission is keen to emphasize that this initiative is not a liberalization of the market, but an updating of laws that are out of synch with the modern marketplace. Regardless of the semantics, reform would lift some traditional barriers to some of the industry's most lucrative career areas, and would most likely result in better value for consumers. This move does not deal with cross-border employment issues, which remains under the jurisdiction of the much maligned services directive. Instead, it seeks to reform internal rules in individual member states.

To support its case, the EU gives the example of conveyancing, which in the UK used to be the preserve of lawyers and notaries. However, in 1985 the monopoly right of lawyers to conveyancing was lifted and within two years the first licensed conveyancers had begun business, which led to a fall in conveyancy fees in a matter of years, as consumers could now shop around.