Bulgarian Presidency brokers Council's position on rules on mutual recognition to strengthen the Internal Market

The Bulgarian Presidency today brokered a deal between the Member States on the regulation of the mutual recognition of goods in the Internal Market. During today’s Competitiveness Council i, ministers under the Chairmanship of the Bulgarian Minister for the Economy, Emil Karanikolov, confirmed their common position on the proposal for new rules to improve the application of the principle of mutual recognition in the internal market, and so ensure that goods lawfully marketed in one Member State can be sold in any other, as long as they are safe and respect the public interest. As a result of today's decisions the Council is now ready to enter into negotiations with the European Parliament to finalise the adoption of the proposal.

Commenting on today’s success, Minister Karanikolov said:

„We have still to overcome a number of artificial barriers in various areas of the Internal Market. Many of them are a result of the application of different rules in non-harmonised sectors or poor implementation of mutual recognition principles. Today's agreement will help promote the freedom of movement of goods in the internal market, and therefore facilitate market access for our companies, which will in the end benefit all European consumers.“

Also today, ministers had a first exchange of views on the proposed new rules intended to give more bargaining power to small companies which use online platforms and search engines in order to expand their business. The Bulgarian Presidency organised the debate on the Regulation on platforms-to-business relations only four weeks after the Commission put it forward. The goal of the debate was to provide clear guidance and momentum for the work within the Council on this important legislative proposal.

Also on Monday, minister Karanikolov hosted a debate on the competitiveness check-up, a regular exercise by which ministers seek to ensure that EU industrial policies are up-to-date and serve the needs of serve business. This time, the debate focused on the concrete impact of the internal market, in terms of competiveness and productivity, on the EU's industrial base, notably on the development of specific economic sectors according to the various levels of integration.

The Ministers reviewed the progress on a number of legislative and non-legislative initiatives related to the better functioning of the Internal Market and the finalisation of the Digital Single Market.

Minister Karanikolov also informed the Council about the adoption last week of a mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament on the modernisation of the copyright rules in the Digital Single Market.

More information about today’s meeting is available here.

Pictures and videos are available here.