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Implementing the EU Services Directive – November update

Welcome to the November update on the Services Directive and its implementation in the UK. Many of you will have attended or soon be attending the training hosted by Socitm and are working your way through the task list on the ELMS portal. Feedback on both has been very positive but we are always open to suggestions. We also hope you are finding these monthly newsletters and mid-monthly technical notes useful as well as our regularly updated website where you can also find all the latest information. Please see the recently updated Legislation lists.

Point of Single Contact Update

1. We have received feedback that there is a bit of confusion over the difference between PSC, ELMS and businesslink.gov.uk so we have tried to provide an overview of how the parts fit together in a single diagram…it's not as scary as you might think!

2. Just to note, ELMS (Electronic Licence Management System) is the name given to the PSC (Point of Single Contact) and goes live on 7th December, when authorities will be able to configure their formalities, including fees etc. The site will begin receiving applications from businesses from the 28th December 2009 onwards. We will be adding screenshots of what the live ELMS site will look like to the Community of Practice forum shortly.

ELMS is the authority-facing side of the PSC through which you will retrieve applications from service providers.

The ELMS portal is an information resource for authorities to help with everything you need to know to get to grips with ELMS. Several authorities have fed back that the task list is particularly useful; there are 18 key steps with deadlines for implementation.

3. As part of Task 8 (Provide Formality Configuration Information), you should recently have received an email asking you to verify the names the PSC uses for your authority and also branding information for users of the forms service. The emails for this came from a gmail account: the security of them is fit for purpose but it is possible that some may have been lost out to spam filters. If you have not received this email please get in touch as soon as possible on servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk with the subject title “Request to re-send Email 1.”

Thank you for the replies sent in so far. There are two main issues with the answers received: some people have not sent the URL for a gif file - but a link to their site – this is not suitable. Secondly, the colour coding must be 24 bit RGB expressed in hexadecimal. This is 6 characters each between 0-9 and A and F, eg: 000000 FFAACC 1A2B3D.
Those who have sent in answers that don't follow this rule will have to be asked again.

4. We are currently completing the implementation of the familiarisation environment (Task 9) which will allow you to familiarise yourself with the main features of the system. In order to be able to use the system you need to complete a number of tasks - please see the ELMS portal for further information http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/10

5. As part of the familiarisation process we will need configuration details for your reference/test payment engine (Task 10). If you have not selected a payment engine provider, please make sure you do as soon as possible so you can make good use of the familiarisation environment http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/11

6. You will soon be receiving two letters each of which will contain a code referred to as a 'Known Fact'. These codes will enable you to enrol your authority in the ELMS service on the Government Gateway (Task 15). It is very important to keep these safe as you will not be able to access the ELMS system without them. We will notify you once they have been sent http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/17

7. The deadline date for English Local Authorities to have provided their links to Local Directgov (Task 5) has passed – If you have not yet completed this task please email servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk with the date you intend to supply the links. http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/authority/tasks/6

ALERT: Setting up new payment engine accounts

8. With regards to payment engines, it is important to note the following about the four payment providers supported on the PSC:

For Civica, Northgate and Capita, new merchant accounts cannot be set up during December (04/12/09 to 04/01/10). This will only be an issue for customers who do not already have existing accounts.

Worldpay do not have such a freeze period and so will continue as normal during this period.

Bearing this in mind for the few authorities who have not yet fully procured a merchant account with the relevant supplier, please ensure you do so before 4th December to ensure your compliance with the Directive.

Task Status Reports

9. Thank you to all those authorities who have sent in their completed Task Status Report. We have now cleared the back log and all the reports have been updated in the ELMS Portal so please remember to keep sending them in when you the status changes on any of the tasks.

Also please note we have added a spreadsheet version of the Task Status Report to the ELMS Portal which you may find easier to complete then the previously provided word version.

http://elmsportal.businesslink.gov.uk/page/lastatusreport

Socitm Training for Other Competent Authorities

10. Following the success of the 'EU Implementing the Services Directive' course targeted at Local Authorities we will be running the same course specifically for Other Competent Authorities. The course will be split into separate sessions one for Other Competent Authorities who will be using the businesslink.gov.uk forms and separate sessions for those Authorities who have developed their own forms.

Both versions of the course will be run in November. Course dates, times and venue will be published in the News and Events section of the ELMS Portal next week.

Screening - Local Authorities and Competent Authorities

11. All UK local authorities and competent authorities should by now have returned all screening reporting forms (final deadline 27th October 2009).

If you have any outstanding reporting forms please submit them to BIS as soon as you can (servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk).

As we previously explained, we cannot guarantee that any reporting forms that we now receive 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 rights. So please submit any outstanding forms right away!

Internal Market Information (IMI) System update

12. The Internal Market Information (IMI) System is an internet based, secure messaging system developed by the European Commission. Under Article 29 of the Service Directive, Member States are obliged to provide mutual assistance to each other if requested and this must be achieved through electronic means- the IMI facilitates this assistance.

The IMI system differs to the ELMS system in that it is used only by registered Competent Authorities to communicate with each other - the IMI system is not accessible to individual service providers or the wider public.

13. The IMI pilot is ongoing with a large proportion of UK authorities registered and using the system to send ‘test’ requests to authorities in other Member States. We are encouraging ALL authorities to register for the pilot phase and take advantage of this great opportunity. All feedback received is welcome and helps to shape future versions of the system, so please feel free to use the system and let us know what you think and if relevant where you would like to see changes.

To receive a simple registration form and enable your authority to communicate with other EU Member States, simply email sdimi@bis.gsi.gov.uk indicating your authority’s interest.

Further IMI information is available on the BIS IMI webpage, the ELMS portal and the Communities of Practice forum.

IMI regional training events

14. BIS will shortly be running IMI regional training events that will focus solely on the IMI system and provide new users with an overview of the system including the processes involved in sending and receiving a request.

Events will be free to attend and will be focused for users who have not previously had an opportunity to log in or use the system. Unfortunately, due to space constraints we can only offer authorities one allocation per event.

If you are interested in attending an event please inform us who from your authority will be attending and which event at sdimi@bis.gsi.gov.uk

IMI - data protection and privacy notices

15. To help Member States comply with data protection rules, the European Commission have issued a recommendation on the exchange of data via the IMI system (a copy can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/docs/recommendation_2009_C2041_en.pdf ). Much of this recommendation outlines the parameters for using IMI and covers good practice which is already observed in the UK. However, there are a couple of actions which competent authorities, including local authorities, need to consider:

• Informing service providers – privacy notices
• Amending your ICO notification

Access to registers

16. Our October technical note issued on Thursday 22nd, asked authorities to advise us of any registers they hold of service providers. Some authorities have asked us to clarify what information they need to provide.

We need to know of any registers you hold of service providers who are in scope of the Directive. For example, professional bodies may just have a single register of their members, and we will need a link to this register. Local authorities will keep several registers that include details of service providers in scope of the Directive, for example, a register of premises that have been issued with an alcohol and entertainment licence, a register of food premises, registers of animal boarding establishments etc.

17. The requirement to inform us of what registers you hold only applies to those areas in scope of the Directive. For local authorities, our website contains a list of local authority formalities which fall in scope of the Directive. We do not need to know about any registers of service providers not in scope of the Directive, for example, registers of taxi drivers do not need to be included in this exercise. You need only provide details of registers that are either public or accessible to other authorities. You need not inform us of any internal registers you keep for your own purposes.

18. The easiest way for authorities who keep several registers to meet their obligations will be to compile a list of registers, and send us a link to this list. Your list of registers could be a series of links or, if the registers are not available on your website, you should name each register and provide details on how to access them.

19. As a reminder, the objective of this exercise is to cut down on the number of information requests you may receive from authorities in other Member States. Authorities will be obliged to check these registers for any information they need before contacting you for this information.

As we will be asked for this information by 6 November 2009, please send the information to sdimi@bis.gsi.gov.uk as quickly as possible.

Implementation in UK law

20. The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 are currently in the final stages of parliamentary scrutiny. They were debated in the Lords on 29 October and the Commons on 3 November. They are being voted through in the Houses at present. The Regulations are therefore well on track to be implemented by the 28 December deadline.

Business Communications

21. Towards the end of September, we sent an electronic communication out to various businesses, business organisations, trade associations, and other networks that reach out to business to raise the profile of the Directive. The communication included high level messages on the benefits and opportunities of the Directive, as well as advising of the requirements for service providers to supply certain recipients. Several Trade Associations and business organisations have included information in articles about the Services Directive in their publications.

22. We also included copies of our flyers for business, and where appropriate, a standard presentation that could be used by organisations when talking to their members. The flyers can be found at

Keeping your customers informed (92KB)

and

Sell your services to Europe! (73KB)

If you would like hard copies of these flyers or to see a copy of the presentation, please contact us on servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk.

23. Comprehensive guidance for business on the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 has been available on our website since early October. You may find Chapter 4 particularly useful as it refers to what businesses can expect from UK Local and Competent Authorities.