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Notiziario Marketpress di
Giovedì 14 Ottobre 2004
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ROMANO PRODI PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ASSOIMMOBILIARE SEMINAR - CLOSING STATEMENT |
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Brussels, 14 October 2004 - “President, Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s a great pleasure for me to join your seminar and to have the honour to close it. You have already had a busy day that’s why I will limit myself to recap 3 issues which you have certainly discussed but which I believe are of specific interest for you and which have a European dimension. These 3 topics are : 1) The Eu Service Directive: Earlier this year, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive on Services. This is a key step towards meeting the Lisbon goal of making the Eu the most competitive economy in the world by 2010. Our proposal aims to enable service-providers to operate as easily throughout the European Union as they do in each Member State. The Directive creates a balanced legal framework across the European Union in order to make it easier for service providers both to establish in other Member States and to provide cross-border services across national borders. The Directive is based on a combination of the principles of mutual recognition, administrative cooperation, harmonisation (where strictly necessary) and encouragement of self-regulation. In this context, the real estate professionals have a key role to play, in that they fully participate in the promotion and development of a real Internal Market for services. Real estate professionals are the basis for cross-border activities of companies but also for the mobility of citizens by facilitating the purchase of property in other Member States. Presently, real estate professionals are able to conduct activities throughout the Union using new information and communication technologies, but still encounter difficulties in freely exercising their profession. Any real estate professional legally established in a Member State where he conducts activities should be able to provide services to clients in other Member States regardless of their place of residence. The increase of cross border activities and the development of a real Internal Market call for a greater harmonization of professional practices at Community level. In this respect the Directive recognises the role of self-regulation and calls on professional associations to agree on codes of practice at Community level. The Commission is thus particularly interested in any initiative taken in this direction. Please feel invited to do so. Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me now turn to the probable impact of the new provision on Public Procurement in respect of property management services. Property management services are a sector in constant development. Due to budgetary considerations many public bodies chose to entrust the management of their properties to external service providers. When the value of these contracts is above the relevant threshold values, they have to be awarded in conformity with the detailed provisions of the Public Procurement Directive. As you know, a major reform of Public Procurement was recently adopted by Council and the European Parliament. For the Public Sector this is Directive 2004/18/Ec of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts. This Directive must be implemented in national law at the latest by 31 January 2006. The provisions under current law which specifically concern property management services have not changed as to substance with the new Directive. These are: the classification of property management services as priority services to which the Directive apply in full; the exclusion of services relating to acquisition or rental of land, existing buildings or other immovable property or concerning rights thereon, and, finally, the clarification that property management services may accessorily include works without this having the effect of turning the contract into a works contract. The new Directive will have a general impact due to the simplification and clarification of existing law, for instance through explicit provisions concerning central purchasing bodies. Directive 2004/18/Ec furthermore offers new and flexible instruments that could be suitable for the award of contracts for property management services. This could be the case in respect of framework agreements, the new provisions on the possibilities of using electronic means of communication and e-procurement systems such as dynamic purchasing systems or electronic auctions. Such instruments might be particularly appropriate for the so-called “global service contracts”, which are often awarded by a central authority such as Consip for the use of a number of other public bodies. It should, however, be noted that these new instruments will be available only if the Member States so decide when implementing the Directive. Finally I would like to raise the mutual recognition of real estate agent/manager diplomas. Ladies and Gentlemen, In some Member States of the Eu (ex. France, Austria, Belgium) the profession of real estate agent or manager is regulated. This means that it can be exercised by virtue of legal provisions only by the holders of a professional qualification. In this instance, access to the profession by nationals of other Member States is ensured by the Community directives on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications (Directives 89/48/Eec and 92/51/Eec). In accordance with these Directives, a real estate agent or manager can obtain the recognition of his/her professional qualification for the purpose of establishing or providing services in another Member State in which the profession is regulated. Recognition is not automatic: the host Member State can require that the applicant sits an aptitude test or complete a period of supervised practice, at his/her choice, if there are substantial differences between his/her training and the training required by national law. In 2002, the Commission presented a proposal for a Directive aiming at clarifying and simplifying existing provisions regarding the recognition of professional qualifications, including also your profession as estate agent or manager. Ladies and Gentlemen, These 3 issues demonstrate perfectly how far you as Italian citizens are influenced by European law as well as your customers. I appreciate therefore your initiative to hold your seminar in Brussels and using this opportunity to profit from first hand information. The city of Brussels, with its partial destruction, however, demonstrates also the societal responsibility of your sector in view of the preservation of contributing to the architectural heritage. This is not only an economic factor but also a part of Europe’s unique culture. Let me close by wishing your sector a further success, you still a nice evening and thank you for your attention”.
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