EC cross-border services plan to be eased
European Commission reconsiders single market plan |
European Commission plans to
allow health services to be provided throughout the EU from any member
state are expected to be dropped after commission president José Manuel
Barroso said that the planned services directive needs serious revision.
Mr Barroso is believed to have ordered commission officials to help
with revision of the draft directive. But the commission’s London spokesman
said: “It is in the hands of the European Parliament and the Council
of Ministers. Any amendments must come from them. The commission will
only look at it again if amendments come from them.”
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Pharmaceutical Group of the
European Union want all health services to be excluded
from the scope of the draft directive (PJ, 16 October 2004,
p553). The UK government’s
position is that only publicly funded health services should be excluded.
As it stands, the draft directive would implement a “country of
origin” principle. This would mean that any company offering services
throughout the EU would only have to meet the national standards of the
country in which it is based and not those of countries in which those
services are used.
The Society’s President, Nicholas Wood, said: “This development
is a welcome first step, but it is for the European Parliament to decide
what should happen next. Through the Alliance of Regulators in Europe,
we are now talking to the European Parliament to ensure that our concerns
about the draft services directive are known and understood.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
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