Slovakia - internal market

Short-term priorities:

• further alignment of legislation on standards and certification;
• adoption of a law on State aid;
• alignment of legislation on intellectual property;
• alignment of legislation on public procurement (transparency), bankruptcy procedures and agriculture (veterinary and plant health legislation);
• establishing of standardisation and conformity assessment structures.

Assessment (October 1999)

These priorities have been met in full.

There has been progress as regards aligning legislation on standards and certification, State aid, public procurement and agriculture (particularly in veterinary and plant health matters).

Assessment (November 2000)

Progress has been made in all the priority areas, with the exception of the following issues. The legislation on trademarks and patents has not yet been applied. Further efforts need to be made to combat piracy and counterfeiting, as well as to improve border management. Restrictions on the free movement of capital persist. The inventory of State aid is not advancing well. Neither the VAT rate nor the legislation on chemical products have been aligned with Community legislation.

Assessment (November 2001)

A public procurement office has been set up. It is necessary to reinforce the means of combating counterfeiting. Alignment is progressing well as regards the free movement of goods, but there are still certain restrictions on the free movement of capital. The coordination of the supervisory authorities for financial services must be improved. There is still no inventory of State aid, and the application of the relevant legislation is posing problems. Progress has been made on the alignment of excise duties, in contrast to the alignment of VAT.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Medium-term priorities:

• alignment of legislation, and implementation and enforcement, in the areas of standardisation and conformity assessment, competition (monitoring and transparency of State aid and mergers), indirect taxation, intellectual property (enforcement), financial services, data protection and protection of audiovisual material;
• consolidation of standardisation and conformity assessment structures;
• establishment of a market surveillance system;
• alignment of technical regulations on industrial products;
• promotion of business expansion, particularly of SMEs;
• alignment of Slovak law and practice on that of the Community in connection with telecommunications, consumer protection and the internal market in energy.

Assessment (October 1999)

There has been no progress in these areas.

Assessment (November 2000)

There has been no progress in these areas.

Assessment (November 2001)

The Directive on the protection of personal data has yet to be transposed. The main banking directives have been aligned and applied. Little progress has been made on insurance, investment services and securities markets. There are delays in the mutual recognition of diplomas. Alignment has progressed well in the fields of competition and customs. The independent regulatory authority for telecommunications must be reinforced.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Following the signing of the Accession Treaty on 16 April 2003, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004.

REFERENCES

Decision 98/262/EC, 30.03.1998Official Journal L 121, 23.04.1998

Decision 1999/853/EC, 06.12.1999Official Journal L 335, 28.12.1999

Commission Opinion, COM(97) 2004 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report, COM(98) 703 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report, COM(1999) 511 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report, COM(2000) 711 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2001) 700 final - SEC(2001) 1754Not published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2003) 675 final - SEC(2003) 1209Not published in the Official Journal

Treaty of Accession to the European Union [Official Journal L 236, 23.09.2003]

Last updated: 19.11.2004