DG ECTI report on "Single Market Competitiveness: Advancing Cross-Border Trade in Services"

The Directorate-General for Economy, Transformation and Industry (DG ECTI) of the European Parliament has published a study that examines restrictions affecting cross-border trade in services within the EU. The study draws on quantitative data to show that intra-EU services trade is far more liberal than extra-EU trade, although the pace of reform has slowed in recent years. The analysis identifies remaining barriers as being associated with regulations that apply to both domestic and foreign service providers, and highlights significant variation across Member States, which creates scope for increasing competitiveness and generating benefits for individual Member States.