Samenvatting

“By 1993, the European Single Market becomes a reality” (“Historical overview,” 2014). This is stated by the European Commission in its historical overview on the internal market. The question has arisen whether today, 30 years after the signing of the European Single Act, the European Single Market actually has been brought into practice. The author has answered this question by the means of a case study, taking the European residential ventilation industry as an example. Residential ventilation is currently making its first steps towards European unification of legislation. Energy-efficiency is one of the EU’s main priorities, as well as indoor air quality; due to a constant improvement of building insulation, ventilation needs to be installed everywhere in order to maintain a good indoor air quality and the topic concerns everyone. The research question answered in this thesis is:
To what extent have the objectives of the European Single Market been met, taking the example of the European residential ventilation industry?
First, in the literature review, three areas have been covered. To begin with, the development of the internal market from 1945 to today has been mapped by outlining the most influential treaties, the Public Procurement Directive, the Mutual Recognition Regulation, and Single Market Acts I and II. Thereafter, the views on the Single Market’s success have been explored by reviewing both academic sources and EU impact assessments and reports. Lastly, a framework of the European directives and regulations applicable to the residential ventilation industry has been created.
In accordance with the literature review outcomes, the methodology for the case study research has been established. For the in-depth research, semi-structured interviews were conducted amongst four manufacturer representatives: one from a large and one from a medium-sized Danish company, and one from a large and one from a medium-sized Spanish company. The small scale of the research has been acknowledged as one of the main limitations. Consequently, the author has chosen an inductive reasoning approach, acknowledging that from a relatively small-scale research in a quite undiscovered research field, no formal proof leading to a formal one-way conclusion could be drawn; merely, generalizations and suggested conclusions can be made.
The most important outcomes of the interviews were:
(1) Main competition comes from domestic manufacturers;
(2) Product legislation highly varies per country;
(3) Product and certification requirements can even vary per region or consumer;
(4) National legislation is being highly influenced by different stakeholders, like individual manufacturers, national associations, and testing houses;
(5) Certification is often too geographically diversified and too costly for SMEs to keep up;
(6) Public institutions do not seem to favor products from their own country, merely prioritize low cost;
(7) The overall attitude towards further European integration is positive, and continued unification is considered the only way forward for the industry.
These findings were compared with the outcomes of the literature review. Following this analysis, the answer to the research question is:
Yes, the framework for a Single Market has been established; yet, in practice is not being fully implemented. Technical trade barriers still exist and form a burden for further economic integration and the growth and expansion of manufacturers, especially SMEs.
In accordance with the methodology, analysis and conclusions, a two-tailed set of recommendations was made; one set for further action by the EU, and another for further research to be developed. The EU has the possibility of following two different action plans, of which the first would be the most progressive one:
(1) Map the European countries according to climate into three or four regions;
(2) Implement product and energy-efficiency regulations instead of directives, according to the climate regions;
(3) Introduce a European certification body in line with the European product legislation.
The second option draws a less progressive, but maybe more feasible action plan:
(1) Reinforce the principle of mutual recognition with a specialized European control body;
(2) Integrate a more stringent infringement procedure for national governments in case they do not follow the principles of mutual recognition;
(3) Integrate a more stringent infringement procedure for national government who neglect to implement regulations, transpose directives, or hand in reflection reports on time.
This option might be, in the current environment, the best one.
Next to recommendations for actions, suggestions for further research in four areas have been made:
(1) Investigate to what extent a European Economic Union could be actually achieved as long as not all Member States have integrated the single currency;
(2) Search for a solution to the problem of double regulation of products and components;
(3) Create a framework of all European and national certification and testing institutions;
(4) Conduct the same research as performed by the author, taking different countries as case study.