Services, Citizenship, and the Country of Origin Principle

The country of origin principle requires states to apply different legal regimes to companies and persons according to their state of origin. This looks rather like nationality discrimination, contrary to Article 12 EC. It is also fundamentally at odds with one of the central pillars of citizenship, both national and European; equality between citizens. The preference for a relatively unfettered country of origin principle in the Services Directive raises doubts whether the directive has an adequate legal basis, and in any case makes it undesirable. It is an example of economic law that has profound impacts on many non-economic aspects of life. It fragments jurisdictions, and therefore societies. Yet it has been made with only the narrowest of trade interests in mind. It shows the danger of allowing technocracy-led legislation. And nor are the economic arguments even good. If Member States cannot apply their law within their jurisdiction, then their capacity to develop coherent regulatory regimes is undermined, and the competition between these regimes which might revitalise national legislation, to the benefit of economic and non-economic life, cannot take place. The degree of openness of markets is only one part of wealth creation, and so should be part of regulatory competition, not a precondition for it