Abstract:

Freedom to provide services, as one of the fundamental market freedoms, enables every national established in one Member State to provide services in another Member State without restrictions and under the same conditions as nationals of that Member State. The increasing specialisation of services and development of new technologies and models of service provision bring about new challenges and require continuous assessment of compatibility of national legislation with internal market rules. It is difficult to reconcile different legal cultures, with their particular values and assumptions concerning the regulation of certain professions and service providers. Some sectors prove particularly resilient to liberalisation and rely on traditional protectionist national measures. The ever-growing range of services and specialisation of service provision increase the number and level of professional activities regulated by the states, regulatory bodies, or both actors combined. In addition to the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the common EU legal framework for the provision of services is based on numerous secondary legal sources, aiming to facilitate free provision of services, establish common rules and simplify administrative cooperation. One of the most important instruments is Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, which has been implemented in the Croatian legal systems with the Services Act of 2011. The Services Act aims to facilitate freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services, while at the same time preserving the high quality of standards for service provision. Member States are required to amend their legislation and remove obstacles to the free provision of services. Liberalisation of the services market is an ongoing process and a reality in Croatia as well, and it is based on administrative and tax simplifications, coupled with amendments of various sector-specific provisions affecting the free provision of services and freedom of establishment. The underlying principles of the liberalisation of the services market are prescribed in the Services Act, and this paper explores and analyses some selected amendments over the last five years.

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