Single market competitiveness : advancing cross-border trade in services : executive summary

Services account for 72% of GDP and three quarters of total employment in the EU. The performance of services in themselves is therefore a major determinant of EU economic performance, but services also matter for the competitiveness of all industries as many services are inputs into production. Intra-EU trade barriers are much lower than those applying to third countries, but barriers to trade have not fallen much in the last decade. Important barriers remain, particularly in the areas of administrative procedures and barriers to competition. Complementing the Single Market Strategy with national initiatives that apply better regulation principles to services regulation, concerted action by groups of EU Member States and actions at EU level to assess the rationale and consider the effects of restrictive services regulation can help raise public awareness of the importance of services for competitiveness.