If you consider that an authority in an EU/EEA country has prevented you from exercising your rights in the Internal Market, you can turn to us. We will try to help you to solve the problem in the simplest and the best possible way. This service is free of charge.
The EU Internal Market, with free movement of goods, services, capital and persons, is one of the cornerstones for EU cooperation. The rules and regulations governing the free movement within the EU are extensive and constantly increasing. At the same time, they must be interpreted and applied by national administrations in 30 EU/EEA countries. As a result, barriers to free movement may occur because EU Law has been incorrectly applied.
The European Commission acts as the guardian of EU Law and the Commission may, by taking formal proceedings against member states, rectify infringements of EU Law. The member states themselves, on their part, can obtain assistance and guidance to enable them to act in accordance with EU Law, by allowing a national court to submit EU legal questions to the Court of Justice of the European Communities. However, in both cases, this involves expensive and protracted proceedings.
Many of the problems experienced in the Internal Market are of a more everyday and individual nature and are better suited to a different kind of problem-solving. In 2002, the Commission initiated Solvit to fulfil the need for a more informal process in which companies and private individuals can obtain free help with rapid and practical solutions to problems they experience in the Internal Market.
There is a Solvit centre in every EU/EEA member state. These centres feed reports concerning barriers into a common database, and then they analyse the problem and try to solve it in cooperation with each other, and with the authority in the country where the problem arose. One solution of such a problem may be that the authority changes its actions, although Solvit may also conclude that there has been no contravention of EU Law.
Solvit has no opportunity to resort to sanctions and is not able to force authorities to act in accordance with Solvit’s conclusions. However, the tool has proved successful and has, over the years, helped many companies and individuals to benefit from the internal market.
Notification of barriers can be submitted directly to the Solvit network common database. The report form is available here
Solvit Sweden’s email address is solvit@kommers.se or
tel.no. +46 (0)8-690 48 00