Estonia - internal market

Short-term priorities:

• continued alignment of national legislation with existing Community rules, particularly as regards public procurement, intellectual and industrial property, financial services, taxation, technical legislation and competition (in particular the transparency of state aid);
• adoption of new legislation on competition, covering both anti-trust measures and state aid;
• strengthening of the body responsible for monitoring state aid;
• establishment of an initial aid inventory.

Assessment (October 1999)

These priorities have been observed only in part.

Estonia has continued aligning its legislation on free movement of goods, particularly its sectoral legislation. Progress has been much slower regarding the New Approach. In contrast, the alignment process is almost complete for the free movement of capital and freedom to provide services. However, new Estonian competition law does not fully cover the monitoring of mergers and does not fully align legislation on state aid with Community rules. The body responsible for monitoring state aid has to be strengthened.

Assessment (November 2000)

Work has continued on the alignment of legislation in the fields of the free movement of goods, competition, taxation, telecommunications and the audio-visual sector. As regards the freedom to provide services, there needs to be greater supervision of the securities markets. The capacity of the customs authorities must be increased and the Customs Code adopted. There are still a few minor obstacles to the free movement of capital.

Assessment (November 2001)

There has been good progress on public procurement. Transposition has continued on the free movement of goods. Minor obstacles to the free movement of capital still exist. A securities financial services supervisory authority has been set up. Alignment is continuing on VAT, competition and telecommunications, but the state aid inventory has still to be completed. Alignment is almost complete for the audio-visual sector. The customs code and a timetable for the implementation of certain measures have still to be adopted. The fight against fraud must be pursued.

Assessment (November 2003)

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

Medium-term priorities:

• alignment in the fields of public procurement, financial services, money laundering, intellectual and industrial property, state aid and data protection;
• strengthening of the bodies responsible for regulating securities, the audio-visual sector and indirect taxation;
• upgrading of standardisation and conformity assessment structures and establishment of a market surveillance system;
• completion of the alignment with Community rules, actual implementation of competition law, strengthening of competition authorities, promotion of enterprise development (in particular SMEs), alignment with existing Community rules in the fields of telecommunications, consumer protection and the internal energy market.

Assessment (October 1999)

No progress was made in these fields.

Assessment (November 2000)

The structures for standardisation and conformity assessment must be modernised. Adequate structures for implementation in all sectors must be guaranteed.

Assessment (November 2001)

The law on industrial property is virtually in conformity with the acquis. Intellectual property law has still to be aligned. Estonia has made good progress with alignment in the fields of free movement of goods, state aid, consumer protection and mutual recognition of diplomas. Alignment has still to be completed on taxation. There has been little progress on customs matters.

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 98/264/EC of 30.03.1998Official Journal L 121, 23.04.1998

Decision 1999/855/CE of 6.12.1999Official Journal L 335, 28.12.1999

Commission Opinion COM(97)2006 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(98)705 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(1999)504 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2000)704 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2001) 700 final - SEC(2001) 1747Not published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2003) 675 final - SEC(2003) 1201Not published in the Official Journal

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

Last updated: 19.11.2004