EC Directive 2006/123 was signed on 12th December 2006

The main aim of the EC Services Directive 2006/123, colloquially known as the Bolkestein2 directive after its main proposer, is to enable businesses to set up in other Member States and to remove restrictions on provision of cross border services within Europe.

Official British reaction to the Directive is that the it will benefit businesses in the UK because of the strong service industry sector here. The main government BIS web-pages on the Services Directive start by saying the Directive ".... will make it easier for service providers, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, to offer their services to customers in other EU countries, whether establishing elsewhere in the EU or providing services remotely from the UK".

The Directive was signed on 12th December 2006. It had to be transposed into national law by Member States by 28th December 2009 (see art 44). This has been done by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, SI 2009/2999 which came into force on 28th December 2009.

The Directive and regulations apply to economic activity normally provided for remuneration and which is not a contract for employment. They are therefore not generally relevant for purposes of this British employment law website.

See also notes at European Law/freedom of movement of workers and/or European Law/freedom of establishment and/or European Law/Directives etc/posted workers .