The Services Directive – the right to buy services from other countries within the EU
Tjänstedirektivet - Din rätt att köpa tjänster av andra länder inom EU - Engelska
In order to facilitate cross-border trade with services, the EU Member States have agreed on the rules and conditions that are to apply. They are gathered in the Services Directive.
Cooperation: This page is part of the European Union's Consumer Program (2014-2020).
Translated page: This text has been translated from Swedish. The text and appearance of the page may look different from the original page.
Intended to make it easier for consumers and companies
The EU Services Directive (2006/123/EC) applies to all Member States in the EU and to Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The Directive is intended to make it easier for companies and consumers to offer and purchase services across the borders within the EU. This will ensure free mobility, promote cooperation between the EU countries and strengthen the rights for companies and consumers.
Combating discrimination
The Member States in the EU may not set requirements that restrict the possibility of purchasing services from companies in other countries, or that discriminate between customers due to nationality or place of residence.
Customers shall be treated equally
According to the Services Directive, companies are obliged to offer equal terms to customers from different countries. Customers shall not be treated differently on the basis of where they live or be denied the purchase of a service that is available to the public in another EU country. An example of impermissible treatment is if you hire a car over the Internet in another EU country and have to pay a higher rent just because you to not reside in the country where the car is hired.
When different terms for different countries can be OK
In some cases, it may be OK to have different terms depending on where the customer is resides. This can apply to terms for fees, prices and delivery if the differences are justified on objective grounds. Some examples of such grounds are:
The actual costs being higher due to distance or technical details in connection with the service being performed.
There being different market conditions between different countries, such as seasonally influenced demand or different holiday periods.
Distribution agreements between, for example, manufacturers and resellers that prevent companies from selling services to countries other than their own.
Extra risks linked to doing business in a country other than where the company has its registered offices, such as difficulties securing the payment.
Intellectual property rights. It may, for example, concern a company that cannot sell e-books or music to customers in other countries due to copyright regulations.
Services covered
The Services Directive only covers services performed for financial compensation. Examples of services that are covered:
Construction and architectural operations
Property services (such as estate agencies) and property management service
Tourism (travel agencies, travel operators and tourist guide activities)
Leisure facilities, sports facilities and amusement parks
Hotel, restaurant and catering
Information services (such as web portals, news agencies and publishing activities)
Educational services that are not paid by tax funding
Car hire
Household services
Consulting services in management and administration, certification and testing
Legal advice and tax advice
Services that are exempt
A number of services are exempt from the Directive’s area of application. A few examples are:
Transport services
Services offered by staffing agencies
Financial services, such as banking and credit services, insurance, pension savings, securities and investment funds, as well as investment advice, payments and leasing
Private security services
Some gambling services/gaming operations, such as lotteries, casino games and betting
Audiovisual services, such as cinemas and radio broadcasts
Electronic communications services
Health and medical care services
The Services Directive also does not affect rules that guarantee consumers protection according to the legislation in their home countries
Company information obligations
In order to make it easier for buyers of services, the Services Directive includes provisions intended to provide good information about the companies that sell the services. This also provides the possibility of comparing services and thereby creating equal terms for businesses from different countries.
Examples of the kind of basic information that service providers must provide information on before an agreement is reached:
Name and legal form
Contact information, such as phone number and email address
Registration information
General conditions
What the service mainly consists of
Price (if it is set in advance)
Insurance and warranties
If permits are required to conduct the operations, there must also be information on the authority that granted the permits or to relevant contact points.
There is also information that the company needs to provide if the buyer of the service requests it. Among other things, this concerns information about:
Calculation method for the price (if it is not possible to determine in advance)
Information on the provider’s operations and partnerships, as well as information on what steps have been taken to avoid conflicts of interest
Information on any codes of conduct and possibilities for dispute resolution in the event of membership with a professional or industry organisation.
How the companies should handle complaints
The companies that sell services must respond to complaints as soon as possible, and do their best to resolve disputes quickly and in a good manner. The companies must also provide contact information to complaint boards, to which consumers in other Member States can also turn.
Do you have questions about the Services Directive?
If you have questions regarding the Services Directive, you can turn to your national contact point for the Services Directive. The purpose of the contact points is to make it easier for companies and consumers to offer and buy services in the internal market and ensure the free mobility of services.
In Sweden, there are two contact points, one for consumers and one for companies.
Contact point for consumers – ECC Sweden
ECC Sweden has the assignment of informing consumers when purchasing services from other EU countries. You reach us by email, phone, fax or letter.
Email: info@eccsverige.se Telephone: +46 54 19 39 70 Letter: Consumer contact point as per the Services Directive, ECC Sweden, Box 48, 65102 Karlstad, Sweden
What can you get help with?
ECC Sweden, which can provide information on:
Consumer rights in purchases of services in the EU, Norway, Iceland and the UK
Possibilities of legal review of disputes
It does not cost anything to contact us.
Languages
You can contact us in Swedish or English.
Processing times
We endeavour to answer your question as soon as possible and within three working days. If your question requires investigation and if we need to gather information from other authorities, it may take longer, however, before we can respond. In these cases, we strive to respond to you within 14 days. If in exceptional cases we cannot live up to this, we will let you know.
Contact point for companies – Verksamt.se
At the contact point Verksamt.se, various authorities gather information and e-services for companies that want to start and conduct a business.
Go to the contact point for companies at Verksamt.se
Contact points in other countries
There is a contact point are in every EU country, as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the UK.
List of contact points in other countries is on the European Commission’s website
Supervision and dispute resolution
If a company violates the provisions in the Services Directive, you as a consumer can file a supervisory report to the Swedish Consumer Agency. This may, for example, involve the company:
Discriminating customers based on nationality or place of residence
Not providing the information they are obliged to provide
Deficiencies in its complaint handli
File a complaint to the Swedish Consumer Agency
Solvit – if an authority acts in violation of the rules
People, goods, services and capital shall be able to move freely over the borders within the EU. But sometimes, the provisions on the internal market are applied incorrectly. If you think that an authority in an EU country, Norway or Iceland has prevented you from exercising your rights, you can turn to Solvit.
More information on Solvit is available on the website of the National Board of Trade
If you have a dispute with a company
If you have a dispute that concerns a financial value with a company, there are different bodies you can turn to to get an assessment of the dispute.
Read more about how you can solve your dispute with a company (information in swedish)
Source: ECC Sverige
Proofread: 19 October 2020
This page was funded by the European Union's Consumer Programme (2014-2020). ECC Sweden is a part of the European Consumer Centres Network, but also a part of the Swedish Consumer Agency’s information service Hello Consumer. At ECC Sweden, consumers who made cross-border purchases within the EU, Iceland, Norway or the UK can get free help and advice from our legal advisers.
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