The Services Directive – The right to buy services from other countries within the EU

What does the Services Directive mean for you as a consumer?

• 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

  Companies are required to offer equivalent conditions to customers from different countries. Customers should not be treated differently based on where they live or be denied the purchase of a service available to the public in another EU country. An example of prohibited treatment is if you rent a car online in another EU country and have to pay a higher rental fee just because you do not live in the country where the car is rented.

  When different terms for different countries can be OK

  • 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. There is a contact point are in every EU country, as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the UK. In Sweden, there are two contact points, one for consumers and one for companies. 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.

  Contact point for consumers – ECC Sweden

  ECC Sweden has the assignment of informing consumers when purchasing services from other EU countries. ECC Sweden, which can provide information on:

  • Consumer rights in purchases of services in the EU, Norway and Iceland
  • Possibilities of legal review of disputes

  Email: konsumenteuropa@konsumentverket.se

  It does not cost anything to contact us. You can contact us in Swedish or English. We endeavor 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.

  List of contact points in other countries is on the European Commission’s website

  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

  The National Board of Trade

  The National Board of Trade is a Swedish government agency for international trade, the EU internal market and trade policy. The National Board of Trade assists companies with information on regulations relating to services.

  Read more about services within the EU and find contact information on their 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 handling

  File a complaint to the Swedish Consumer Agency

  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 get an assessment of the dispute.

  Read more about how you can solve your dispute with a company (information in swedish)