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1. Welcome to our third technical note which keeps you informed of progress on the Point of Single Contact (PSC) and helps guide you through to implementation in December. Earlier in the month we issued the October newsletter which highlighted the launch of the ELMS portal http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk.
We have had positive feedback on the site and would like to reiterate that it is a “one-stop” shop for all the information you will need in the next few months. For example, it details what you need to do for each of the key tasks and more importantly what information you need to provide.
2. We are still receiving feedback particularly from Local Authorities that there is some concern around back office integration with ELMS. Please note that no connection to any back office system is planned at this stage. You will be able to download licence applications from the system and you will then be able to handle them using your current processes. To clarify, if a Local Authority already has an online interface to a back office system, it only needs to provide the link to the relevant pages – this may be a licence application or information regarding licence applications. Alternatively, the Authority can use ELMS which will provide standard forms that can be used by the Local Authority, by logging in and retrieving the applications that have been submitted.
3. We have uploaded the website toolkit onto ELMS – see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/16. The Toolkit is a pack of website templates that provides you with information and guidance to ensure your authority’s website is providing the correct information in order to meet the Directive’s requirements – please feel free to use, adapt supplement it as you want for your authority. Also included is a guide on how to use the overall European brand (EUGO) on your website.
4. If you are an English Local Authority, your Web Portal Officer (WPO) should have received from Local Directgov a spreadsheet and guidance documentation for the uploading of links. This was issued last week, so please check with your WPO that this process is underway – we have posted the guidance on the ELMS site – see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/6. The guidance and spreadsheet will be made available to Welsh local authorities in late October and to devolved authorities and competent authorities in early November.
5. To enable you to complete task 9 of your Task List your authority will need to start thinking about which departments need access to ELMS i.e. who will manage the authority content and who will have responsibility for handling online applications in ELMS. Once this has been determined you will then need to identify which individuals in those teams will need to be registered in the familiarisation environment.
The familiarisation environment is the only opportunity ELMS users will have to get training on how to use the ELMS before your authority goes live.
For more information on the familiarisation environment and access to the overview documents for the Administrator and Operational User roles please go to the ELMS Portal: http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/10
6. We have now published guidance on what information your authority will need to provide in order to personalise (e.g. logo details, formal and short name of authority etc) your formality on businesslink.gov.uk.
For more information on this task and a full description of what you need to provide please go to the ELMS Portal: http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/9
7. We will continue to update and improve the site and would therefore appreciate any feedback and suggestions from you and your colleagues on how we can make it better. Please email us your thoughts and comments to servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk with the subject “ELMS portal website”.
8. In order to reduce the administrative and time burdens placed upon authorities and increase the ease with which information concerning service providers can be accessed, the IMI system will hold a 'register of registers' for all authorities across all Member States.
Under 'article 28' of the Directive, any registers of service providers that are currently available to UK authorities should be made available to authorities in other Member States. This will include public registers, and any registers which are not publicly available but are shared with other UK authorities. Prior to a request being submitted on the IMI system, authorities are required to consult with the list of registers and establish whether the information that is being sought is already available and therefore a request need not be submitted.
9. It seems like most registers of service providers held by UK authorities are publicly available, but if you do hold ‘non-public’ registers of service providers which you currently share with other UK authorities, these have got to be made available to authorities in other Member States on the same terms. If these 'non-public' registers are not available online, authorities from other Member States should be informed how and where they can be accessed.
10. The easiest way to ensure compliance with the Directive will be to make a list of registers available on your authority website, with links to these registers or details of how to access them. The URL of the page holding the registers should be sent to sdimi@bis.gsi.gov.uk . The IMI system will then include a link to this webpage, so that other authorities can easily find out what registers of service providers you hold and access them if necessary. Informing authorities from other Member States of your registers in this way will cut down on the number of information requests they send to you.
To ensure that the completed lists are sent to the European Commission and included on the IMI system the deadline for this task is the 06/11/09.
11. You should be currently well on the way to completing the following tasks:
• Provide us with your payment configuration details [for authorities using Civica this will involve a member of your finance/IT team arrange secure delivery of your configuration details to businesslink] – for further information see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/11
• Start testing the compatibility of your computer systems specification to ensure ELMS will operate as expected [this is a quick process and should involve a member of your IT team reviewing the specifications as set out under Task 7 on ELMS] – for further information see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/8
• Signed up appropriate staff for the SOCITM training course ‘Implementing the EU Services Directive’ – for further information see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/7
• Forwarded the details of your web portal officer (e.g. name, email, telephone, address including department and job title) to Local Directgov – for further information see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/4
• Completed our online survey. If you have not already returned a survey, for Local Authorities this is no longer required, but Competent Authorities are required to do so immediately – for further information see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/2
• Completed the forms template if you are a Competent Authority (not applicable to local authorities!) that has decided to use the BIS forms service – for further information see http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/5
12. A number of finalised forms are now published on the community of practice. These forms are not for consultation as they have previously been issued for comment, but published for information. The community of practice allows comments and discussions linked to each form which you may use to discuss any aspects. You may of course use the usual forums/wiki/library to exchange views with colleagues.
Community of Practice: http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk (search for EU services Directive)
13. We require your second progress report which was due on 16 October. Please return the appropriate local authority or competent authority form to: servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk with the subject title “Progress report”. Please do not amend the form but complete as directed as it has been designed specifically to help automate inputting your return into our database.
14. The business contacts you and your colleagues have will be interested to hear about the benefits and obligations of the Services Directive Please see the following flyers we have produced:
We have also just published full guidance for business on the UK Regulations to implement the Services Directive:
We would value your assistance in passing on this information.
15. As you will be aware we are now very close to the implementation date of December 28th 2009 for the Directive.
All UK local authorities and competent authorities should by now have returned all screening reporting forms (original deadline 16th October 2009).
Each Member State needs to inform other countries (via the Commission) the results of its screening exercises, in addition to forwarding completed screening reporting forms. In order for the UK to fulfil its obligations I must ask you to ensure that all outstanding reporting forms are submitted to BIS (servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk) no later than 5pm Tuesday 27th October.
This deadline is fixed; we cannot guarantee that any reporting forms received after this date will be included in our report to the Commission, which could leave the UK open to the risk of infraction, with local authorities and competent authorities open to court action from any service providers who feel that they have been denied their full community rights.
16. We have updated our website with a table listing details of changes that are being made to existing national legislation and administrative practices because of the Provision of Service Regulations 2009 or the Services Directive.
17. I hope you find this Technical Note helpful and remember that you can find more information on the ELMS Portal site at: http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk and on our website at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/servicesdirective. You can also contact us via email at: servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk. In addition, the COP forum can be accessed at: http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk
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