Information Society services: procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules

Regulating the Information Society is mainly the responsibility of Member State. This according to the Commission poses a real risk that the development of information services in the EU is hampered by contradictory or inconsistent regulations at the national level. To prevent this the Commission put forward a proposal obliging the Member States to submit any rules relating to Information Society Services to the Commission for review prior to implementation. A "stand still" period of four months would allow the Commission and other member states to analyse the drafts and comment on them. At first reading Parliament adopted a number of amendments which according to Mr Mark HENDRICK (PES, UK), rapporteur for the Committee, to a large extent have been accepted by Council. In its recommendation for second reading (Co-Decision) the Committee has retabled those amendments from first reading which were not taken up by the Council. In particular, the Committee demands that Member States must explain and justify the reasons why they do not follow comments sent to them by the Commission or other Member States. The Committee also wants a consultative group of experts from industry and academia to be set up to advise the Commission on these matters. �