DIRECTIVE ON SERVICES: THE IMPACT ON LITHUANIAN MARKET

Abstract

The free movement of people, goods and services inside the European Union (EU) is one of the main benefits for citizens and businesses people in the EU, which provides wider ranges and price competition. Services encompass 70 percents of GNP and employment in the EU member states. Unfortunately, different countries have different regulation systems, which make legal and administrative barriers for service providers. Such situation blocks the free ways of providing cross-border services and increasing cross-border competition in service markets. The Directive on Services 2006/123/EC is a part of the economic reform process launched by the Lisbon European Council (the Lisbon Agenda) with a perspective of making the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by the year 2010. The objective of the Directive is to provide the necessary legal framework that will eliminate the barriers to the freedom of establishment for service providers and the free movement of services between the EU member states, giving both, the providers and the recipients of services, the legal certainty they need to exercise these two fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Treaty. This article aims to identify the Services Directive‘s impact on Lithuanian service market.