Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Title: establishing a framework of measures on emergency and resilience of the internal market (Internal market emergency and resilience act) and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2679/98

Recital 1: (1) Past crises, especially the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown that the internal market and its supply chains can be severely affected, and appropriate crisis management tools and coordination mechanisms are either lacking, do not cover all aspects of the internal market or do not allow for a timely and effective response to such crises.

Recital 2: (2) The Union was not sufficiently prepared to ensure efficient manufacturing, procurement and distribution of crisis-relevant non-medical goods such as personal protective equipment, especially in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ad-hoc measures taken by the Commission in order to re-establish the functioning of the internal market and to ensure the availability of crisis-relevant non-medical goods during the COVID-19 pandemic were necessarily reactive. The pandemic also revealed insufficient overview of manufacturing capacities across the Union as well as vulnerabilities related to the global supply chains.

Recital 2 a (new): (2a) During the COVID-19 pandemic, uncoordinated measures restricting the free movement of persons had a particular impact on critical sectors, particularly those that rely on mobile workers, including frontier and cross-border workers, who played an essential role in keeping the Union economy going during that time.

Recital 3: (3) Actions by the Commission were delayed by several weeks due to the lack of any Union wide contingency planning measures and of clarity as to which national authority to contact to find rapid solutions to the impact on the internal market caused by the crisis. In addition, it became clear that uncoordinated restrictive actions taken by the Member States would further aggravate the impacts of the crisis on the internal market. It emerged that there is a need for arrangements between the Member States and Union authorities as regards contingency planning, technical level coordination and cooperation and information exchange. Additionally, it became evident that the lack of effective coordination between Member States exacerbated the shortages of goods and created more obstacles to the free movement of services and persons.

Recital 4: (4) Yet, despite the initial lack of coordination, the internal market rules played a key role in mitigating the negative impact of the crisis and in ensuring a swift recovery of the economy of the Union, namely by precluding unjustified and disproportionate national restrictions contained in the unilateral responses by the Member States and by providing a strong incentive to find common solutions, thus promoting solidarity.

Recital 5: (5) These recent events have also highlighted the need for the Union to be better prepared for possible future crises, in particular considering the continuing effects of climate change and resulting natural disasters as well as global economic and geopolitical instabilities. Given the fact that it is not known which kind of future crises could occur and have a severe impact on the internal market and its supply chains, it is necessary to provide for an instrument that would apply in the event of the occurrence of a wide range of crises that have an impact on the internal market and have a cross border effect.

Recital 6: (6) The impact of a crisis on the internal market can lead to obstacles to free movement within the internal market, thus disrupting its normal functioning. A crisis can exacerbate shortages of crisis-relevant goods and services on the internal market. This Regulation should address the detrimental impact on the free movement of goods, services or persons in the internal market.

Recital 7: (7) Since any specific aspects of future crises that would impact the internal market and its supply chains are hard to predict, this Regulation should provide for a general framework for anticipating, preparing for, mitigating and minimising the negative impacts which any crisis may cause on the internal market and its supply chains and for strengthening their resilience.

Recital 8: (8) The measures set out in this Regulation should be deployed in a coherent, transparent, efficient, proportionate and timely manner, having due regard to the need to maintain vital societal functions, including public security, safety, public order, or public health, respecting the responsibility of the Member States to safeguard national security and their power to safeguard other essential state functions, including ensuring the territorial integrity of the state and maintaining law and order. This Regulation should therefore be without prejudice to matters related to national security and defence.

Recital 9: (9) To this end, this Regulation provides the necessary means to ensure the continued functioning of the internal market, the free circulation of goods, services and persons, including workers, and the availability of crisis-relevant goods and services to citizens, businesses and public authorities in times of crisis. / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted)

Recital 10: deleted

Recital 11: (11) This Regulation should not duplicate the existing framework for medicinal products, medical devices or other medical counter-measures under the EU Health Security Framework, including Regulation (EU) 2022/123 and Regulation (EU) 2022/2371. Therefore, medicinal products, medical devices or other medical counter-measures, falling under their remit, shall be excluded from the scope of this Regulation, except in relation to the provisions relating to free movement during an internal market emergency, and in particular those designed to re-establish and facilitate free movement as well as the notification mechanism.

Recital 12: (12) This Regulation should complement the Integrated Political Crisis Response arrangements operated by the Council under Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1993 as regards its work on internal market impacts of cross-sectoral crises that require political decision-making.

Recital 16: (16) This Regulation should be without prejudice to labour law or working conditions, including health and safety at work, and to collective bargaining rights and the autonomy of the social partners.

Recital 18: (18) This Regulation lays down rights and obligations for economic operators, in particular natural or legal persons, including any temporary association of undertakings, which offer products or services of critical importance on the market. Furthermore, it defines critically important areas which are of systemic and vital importance for the functioning of the internal market, in particular areas related to the cross-border free movement of goods, services or persons, for example in the areas of food, transport, maintenance, health, or information technologies.

Recital 19: (19) In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market, this Regulation should set up an Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Board (‘the Board’) to advise the Commission on the appropriate measures for anticipating, preventing or responding to the impact of a crisis. The European Parliament should be able to appoint an expert as a member of the Board. The Commission should invite representatives of other crisis-relevant bodies at Union level as observers to the relevant meetings of the Board, including, where appropriate, representatives of Committee of the Regions and of the European Economic and Social Committee. The Commission should ensure that the European Parliament receives all documents at the same time as Member States’ representatives. The European Parliament should also systematically have access to the meetings of the Board to which Member States' experts are invited. The participation of representatives of EFTA States as observers should be ensured in accordance with the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as well as with the bilateral agreements between the Union and the Swiss Confederation. The Board should in particular assist and advise the Commission regarding measures that have an impact on the free movement of goods, services and persons, including workers, with a special focus on mobile workers, including frontier and cross-border workers.

Recital 20: (20) It is essential to guarantee greater transparency and accountability, particularly in times of crises, in line with the values on which the Union is based. The European Parliament plays a key role in ensuring democratic accountability. This Regulation should therefore lay down rules to enhance the emergency and resilience dialogue between the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council.

Recital 21: (21) To ensure effective coordination and information exchange in cases of emergency, this Regulation lays down an obligation for Member States to designate central liaison offices, responsible for contact with the Union level central liaison office designated by the Commission and with the central liaison offices of other Member States.

Recital 22: (22) Resilience is key to ensuring that the internal market delivers on one of its ultimate goal of supporting the Union’s economy. This Regulation should allow for anticipation of events and crises, building on ongoing analysis concerning critically important areas of the internal market economy and the Union’s continuous foresight work. In order to ensure the crisis-preparedness of all actors, it is necessary to set out rules on stress tests to be conducted at least every two years, and on trainings and crisis protocols involving not only relevant national authorities, but also stakeholders such as businesses, social partners and experts. It is also essential to lay down rules on strategic reserves of goods of critical importance, in order to ensure a proper exchange of information and provide support to Member States in order to assist them in coordinating and streamlining their efforts.

Recital 23: (23) In order to determine critical sectors, a methodology should be established taking into account specific criteria, namely the trade flows, demand and supply, concentration of supply, Union and global production and production capacities at different stages of the value chain and the interdependencies between economic operators.

Recital 24: (24) It is important to identify and monitor the supply chains of goods, services of critical importance during the vigilance mode, as well as the free movement of categories of workers of critical importance, preceding an internal market emergency. In order to account for the activation of the vigilance mode and the potential consequences for the proper functioning of the internal market that it triggers, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission for the activation of that mode pursuant to Article 291(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The vigilance mode should be activated for a maximum duration of six months with the possibility of an extension of the same duration, taking into due consideration the opinion provided by the Board. The Commission should present a report to the European Parliament and the Council of its findings concerning the monitoring, carried out during the vigilance mode, of the supply chains of goods, services of critical importance, the free movement of categories of workers of critical importance and the inventory of the most relevant economic operators.

Recital 25: (25) The Commission should carefully assess the severity of disruptions to the functioning of the internal market and the impact of a crisis on the basis of concrete and reliable evidence, and duly taking into account the criteria laid down in this Regulation.

Recital 26: (26) In order to account for the exceptional nature of and potential far-reaching consequences of the activation of the internal market emergency mode, which could negatively affect the free movement of goods, services and persons, and in order to ensure appropriate public scrutiny, the internal market emergency mode should only be activated by a legislative act in the form of a decision on a proposal made by the Commission and promptly adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council. To address the need for quick decision-making in times of crisis, decisions to activate the internal market emergency mode could be adopted by making use of urgency procedures, as these procedures have already been successfully used in the past.

Recital 27: (27) The activation of the emergency procedures should be conditional upon the activation of the internal market emergency mode and should be limited to the products designated as crisis-relevant goods. Therefore the activation of the internal market emergency mode, where necessary, should also trigger the application of certain crisis-response procedures governing the design, manufacture, conformity assessment and placing on the market of goods subject to Union harmonised rules or falling under the general safety framework rules, limited to the products designated as crisis-relevant goods.

Recital 28: (28) Restrictions on the free movement of goods, services and persons imposed by Member States should be prohibited, unless they are non-discriminatory, justified and proportionate. It should not be possible to suspend the fundamental freedoms laid down in the Treaty in times of crisis and Member States should not use the emergency situation as a pretext for adopting restrictions going beyond the rules of Treaty. Any response to an internal market emergency should strictly comply with such rules, as well as with the rules laid down in this Regulation. If Member States adopt measures affecting the free movement of goods or persons, or the freedom to provide services in preparation for and during internal market emergencies, they should limit such measures to what is necessary and remove them as soon as the emergency mode is deactivated or earlier, when they are no longer needed. Such measures should respect the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination and should take into consideration the particular situation of border regions.

Recital 29: (29) Representative organisations of economic operators have suggested that economic operators did not have sufficient information on the crisis response measures of the Member States during the pandemics, partly due to not knowing where to obtain such information, partly due to language constraints and the administrative burden implied in making repeated inquiries in all the Member States, especially in a constantly changing regulatory environment. This prevented them from making informed business decisions as to what extent they may rely on their free movement rights or continue cross-border business operations during the crisis. It is necessary to improve the availability of information on national and Union level crisis response measures.

Recital 30: (30) Article 21 TFEU lays down the right of Union citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in the Treaties and the measures adopted to give them effect. The detailed conditions and limitations are laid down in Directive 2004/38/EC. That Directive sets out the general principles applicable to those limitations and the grounds that may be used to justify such measures. Those grounds are public policy, public security or public health. In this context, restrictions to the freedom of movement can be justified if they are proportionate and non-discriminatory. This Regulation is not intended to provide for additional grounds for the limitation of the right to free movement of persons beyond those provided for in Chapter VI of Directive 2004/38/EC.

Recital 31: (31) The measures for facilitating the free movement of persons and any other measures affecting the free movement of persons provided under this Regulation are based on Article 21 TFEU and complement Directive 2004/38/EC, without affecting its application in the event of internal market emergencies. Such measures should not result in authorising or justifying restrictions to free movement contrary to the Treaties or other provisions of Union law.

Recital 32: (32) Article 45 TFEU lays down the right to free movement of workers, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in the Treaties and the measures adopted to give them effect. This Regulation contains provisions which complement the existing measures in order to facilitate the free movement of persons, increase transparency and provide administrative assistance during internal market emergencies. Such measures include setting up the single points of contact and making them available to workers and their representatives in the Member States and at Union level during the internal market vigilance and emergency modes under this Regulation. Member States and the Commission are encouraged to use existing instruments for the set up and operation of these contact points. Such contact points should be active outside the emergency mode and should serve to help communication between the Member States and with the Board.

Recital 33: (33) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards the possibility to adopt supportive measures for facilitating the free movement of persons. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Recital 34: (34) The activation of the internal market vigilance or emergency mode should trigger an obligation for the Member States to notify the Commission of the adoption of measures regarding crisis-relevant restrictions on the free movement of goods, the freedom to provide services and the free movement of persons, including workers, accompanied by a statement justifying the introduction of such measures. The statement on the proportionality of such measures should take into account the impact of the measures, their scope and their expected duration. / (deleted) / (deleted)

Recital 35: (35) When examining the compatibility of any notified draft or adopted measures with the principle of proportionality, the Commission should pay due regard to the evolving crisis situation and often limited information that is at the disposal of the Member States when they seek to reduce the emerging risks in the context of the crisis. Where justified and necessary in the circumstances, the Commission may consider, based on any available information, including specialised or scientific information, the merits of Member State arguments. It is the task of the Commission to ensure that such measures comply with Union law and do not create unjustified obstacles to the functioning of the internal market. The Commission should react to the notifications of Member States as quickly as possible, taking into account the circumstances of the particular crisis, and at the latest within the time-limits set out in this Regulation.

Recital 36: (36) If the Commission finds that the notified measures are not in accordance with Union law, it may issue a decision requiring the Member State concerned to modify or to refrain from adopting the notified draft measure. The adoption of decisions is without prejudice to the prerogatives of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties, having the responsibility of ensuring respect for the free movement of goods, services and persons. To guarantee the effective implementation of this Regulation, the Commission should provide an effective response to breaches of Union law through infringement proceedings.

Recital 37: (37) To ensure that citizens, consumers, economic operators and workers and their representatives are provided with assistance in the event of an emergency, it is important to establish national single points of contact and a Union level single point of contact. Member States should ensure that it is possible for anyone affected by national crisis response measures to receive relevant information from the competent authorities, provided in clear, understandable and intelligible language, and in easily accessible manner for people with disabilities.

Recital 38: (38) In order to ensure that the specific internal market emergency measures provided for in this Regulation are used only where this is indispensable for responding to a particular internal market emergency, such measures should require individual activation by means of Commission implementing acts, which indicate the reasons for such activation and the crisis-relevant goods or services that such measures apply to.