Member states fail to reach Internal Market implementation target[fr][de] 

The 'transposition deficit' is the percentage of directives with relevance to the internal market which have not been transposed. While the deficit should ideally be 0 % to ensure the smooth working of the internal market, governments have agreed on a 1.5 % ceiling to be tolerated. However, only 14 out of the 25 EU countries meet this target in July 2006. 

While the EU as a whole was close to meeting the 1.6 % threshold in November 2005, when only 1.6% of legislation had not been transposed, the value reached 1.9 % in July. A trend towards higher implementation rates was thereby stalled. 

Officials in the Internal Market DG insist that the Scoreboard is not just an abstract exercise. They point to the 'fragmentation factor' - the percentage of internal market directives that have not been implemented in at least one member state. The factor peaked to more than a quarter of the directives during the enlargement process, and it now is back to 9% - a value that was almost constantly held during several years prior to the enlargement.

Number of directives which were not transposed (in darker hue: directives overdue for two or more years * EFTA countries)

Source: DG Internal Market; Graph: Euractiv.com

"The fact that one out of ten directives is not implemented in one member state or another is an obstacle to the internal market", said Marc Verreecken of the team who drafted the scoreboard. 

"I want to stress that this isn't some pedantic bureaucratic exercise on our part", said Commissioner Charlie McCreevy. "When a member state fails to implement laws on time, everyone loses out. Real opportunities for growth and jobs are lost." The Commissioner railed against member states' governments: "Member States have missed a golden opportunity to break through the 1.5% interim target deficit set by heads of state. Instead of going the extra mile, they have relaxed their efforts and moved further away."