Single Market emergency instrument

PURPOSE: to ensure the smooth and undisrupted functioning of the internal market by putting in place contingency, vigilance and emergency measures across the internal market in order to facilitate the coordination of the response measures in the event of a crisis.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2024/2747 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework of measures related to an internal market emergency and to the resilience of the internal market and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2679/98 (Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act – IMERA)).

CONTENT: the regulation establishes a framework of harmonised measures to effectively anticipate, prepare for and respond to the consequences of crises on the internal market, to prepare for them and to react to them by monitoring crises, activating alert or emergency modes as soon as they occur and coordinating and coordinating responses at EU and Member State level.

This framework aims to:

- safeguard and facilitate the free movement of goods, services and persons, including workers;

- ensure the availability of goods and services of critical importance and crisis-relevant goods and services in the internal market where the Member States have adopted or are likely to adopt divergent national measures; and

- prevent the creation of obstacles to the proper functioning of the internal market.

Governance

The IMERA Regulation creates an advisory board for emergency situations, set up by the Commission and the Member States, to assess a given situation and recommend responses when alert or emergency modes are activated.

The competent committee of the European Parliament may invite the Commission in its capacity as Chair of the Board to appear before that committee to provide information on all matters falling within the scope of this Regulation, in particular after each meeting of the Board and after each deactivation of the internal market vigilance or emergency modes.

The Commission will establish a stakeholder platform in order to facilitate sector-specific dialogue and partnerships by bringing together key stakeholders, namely representatives of economic operators, social partners, researchers and civil society.

Emergency framework

The Commission may adopt an implementing act in order to define the details of an emergency framework for crisis preparedness, cooperation, information exchange and crisis communication for the internal market vigilance and emergency modes. The Commission will conduct stress tests regularly, and at least once every two years, at Union level and should encourage and facilitate economic operators in drawing up voluntary crisis protocols. Economic operators should remain free to decide whether to take part in such voluntary crisis protocols.

Internal market emergency

When assessing whether the conditions are fulfilled in order to determine the need to activate the internal market emergency mode, the Commission and the Council will, based on concrete and reliable evidence, assess whether the crisis creates one or more obstacles to the free movement of goods, services or persons, having an impact on at least one sector of vital societal functions or economic activities in the internal market.

On the basis of  that proposal, the Council may extend the internal market emergency mode by no more than six months at a time by means of a Council implementing act.

Where the Commission, taking into consideration the opinion provided by the Board, considers that the internal market emergency no longer exists, it will propose to the Council, without delay, the deactivation of the internal market emergency mode.

During an internal market emergency mode and when responding to an internal market emergency, Member States will refrain from introducing any of the following:

- bans on intra-Union export, or measures having equivalent effect, of crisis-relevant goods or services;

- measures that deny beneficiaries of the right to free movement under Union law the following: the right to enter the territory of their Member State of nationality or residence; the right to exit the territory of a Member State in order to travel to their Member State of nationality or residence; or the right to transit through a Member State in order to reach their Member State of nationality or residence;

- measures that prohibit business travel linked to the research and development, production, placing on the market or related inspections and maintenance of crisis-relevant goods.

The IMERA (internal market emergency and resilience act) provides for emergency last-resort measures such as targeted information requests to economic operators, priority-rated requests for crisis-relevant products, a fast-track procedure to bring certain products on to the market and derogations from product-specific rules.

Single points of contact

Each Member State will operate a national single point of contact that will provide citizens, consumers, economic operators and workers and their representatives with assistance in requesting and obtaining information about national restrictions on the free movement of goods, services, persons and workers introduced during the internal market emergency mode. The Commission will set up and operate a Union-level single point of contact.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 28.11.2024.

APPLICATION: from 29.05.2026.