Decision No.10 "On the approval of the list of sectors (sub-sectors) of services upon which the
Name and Surname: Milana Mukiyeva
Date: 24, January 2018
Word count: 451
Research Task One: Primary Legislative Acts
Act: Decision No. 10 of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council dated 8 September 2015
Institution: Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Title: On the draft decision of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council "On the approval of the list of sectors (sub-sectors) of services upon which the formation of a single market for services within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union will be carried out in accordance with the plans of liberalization (during the transitional period)"
Commentary:
In this document the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, which is composed of the heads of the governments of the Member states, published its decision on the draft decision of the Supreme Eurasian Economic council "On the approval of the list of sectors (sub-sectors) of services upon which the formation of a single market for services within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union will be carried out in accordance with the plans of liberalization (during the transitional period)" It simultaneously orders the governments of the Member states to cooperate with the Eurasian Economic Commission and initiate the realization of the liberalization plans within the presupposed time frames. The sectors of services which will function under a single market are: construction works, engineering services, rent and leasing of recreational courts, advertisement, auditing, real estate services, tourism and scientific research institutes. Interestingly, even if this decision of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council would not have been approved by the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, it would still be implemented since the decisions of the former prevail over the decisions of the latter.
This decision is important for several reasons. First, it launched the creation of the single market for services in EAEU. The annex 16 to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union points out that one of the aims of the Union is to integrate the service market on the principle of the National Treatment, meaning that Member States are not allowed to discriminate the services, service suppliers and recipients from other Member States and should recognize their professional qualifications. This means that in these sectors of services Member states cannot impose such barriers as number of quotas, tariffs and non-tariffs in the form of specific limiting regulations on the services of the providers from other Member States.
Second, the sectors which were incorporated into the single market are of the great significance in the economies of the Member States. For instance, construction services take from 4% to 6% of the GDP of the Member States and account for the significant share of the countries’ employment (Shinkeeva, 2017). A similar extent of the importance of the construction sector for the European Union was also recognized by the European Union Commission, which led to the implemented legislative acts aiming to integrate the service market in 2006 and track the performance of the Internal Market in construction services in 2011. As EU commission points out, the mentioned sector was significantly affected by the economic crisis and ‘restrictive national regulation resulted in little cross-border activity’ (European Commission, n.d.) Further growth of the construction sector in both Unions is likely to have higher potential once the single markets are functioning to their fullest possible extent, eliminating any barriers for services to cross the borders.
Reference list
European Commission. (n.d.). Construction services. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from /growth/single-market/services/construction_en
Shinkeeva, G. (2017). Анализ строительного сектора Республики Казахстан в 2016-2017 гг. (pp. 1–13). Almaty: RFCA Rating Agency.