Mutual evaluation and the services directive : experiences and lessons learnt

Article 39 of the Services Directive provides for a new tool to assess how the Directive has been implemented in the Member States: the mutual evaluation process. This is an analytical study on the effectiveness and efficiency of the mutual evaluation procedure and the possibilities of using mutual evaluation in other policy areas. The main conclusions are the following: i) On the one hand, it can be considered that the mutual evaluation has had little impact, even if it clearly contributed to creating a "European spirit" among national administrations (1st perspective) ii) On the other hand, the mutual evaluation can be considered a useful tool if it enables Commission to identify remaining barriers and define future internal market policies (2nd perspective). However, it is too early to assess the constructive impact of mutual evaluation as the Commission is yet to take concrete actions based on the process.