The fundamental objective of the Internal Market Information (IMI) system is to create the conditions in which day-to-day administrative cooperation between the Member States can take place, by supplying a cross-border eGovernment application to support Internal Market legislation.
The system is an enabling mechanism. It will provide Member State administrations with a multilingual, open and flexible tool to support the mutual assistance and information exchange required to implement Internal Market legislation efficiently. The system will be operated and maintained by the Commission.
IMI will overcome many of the barriers to cooperation created by different administrative cultures, structures and languages, and will clearly provide identified partners and procedures.
European citizens and businesses will be able to rely on a fast and constructive response by administrations to help cross-border activities and enable them to take advantage of Internal Market opportunities.
Technical Functionalities & Approach
The technical approach would be to construct an on-line database and communication system, accessible via a web interface, through which users can access the system.
Development will take place in 3 phases. The development of the application for the Professional Qualifications Directive in Phase 2 and the development of the application for the Services Directive in Phase 3 will take place concurrently:
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In Phase 1, the first vertical information exchange application – in support of the revised Professional Qualifications directive ( 2005/36/EC) – will be developed. An important part of this work will include the design and development of the Competent Authorities database. It is envisaged that the Competent Authorities database will be built up gradually, step-by-step, beginning with those authorities who will use IMI to exchange information according to their obligations under the revised Professional Qualifications directive. The total number of competent authorities to be registered will depend on the Member State in question and the model it uses to implement IMI. The aim is to pilot a beta version of IMI with 4 professions (accountants, doctors, pharmacists and physiotherapists). The target deadline for the pilot to start is the end of October 2007.
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In Phase 2, the Professional Qualifications Directive application will be further enhanced to include more functionality and professions. The Question Set Generator which is a core feature of IMI will be developed during this phase, as will the electronic interface of competent authority data from national IT systems. Statistical reporting will also be developed during this phase.
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In Phase 3, IMI will be further enhanced to support the specific requirements of the Services Directive. This includes the ability to customise workflows for different types of information request, the alert mechanism described in Article 32 and the ability to create and manage subsidiary requests, as well as online translation and verification facilities for Commission translators. Further statistical reporting will be developed during this phase.
- Benefits for the sector:
- Increased co-operation between the Member States will allow them to play a more dynamic and pro-active role in ensuring that the Internal Market operates as it should, and will thus reduce the supervision/enforcement burden on the Commission.
- The Internal Market Information system will act as a platform for ensuring that Directives which heavily rely on co-operation/mutual assistance can be properly implemented. This is the case for the first two applications for the revised Professional Qualifications and Services Directives.
- Furthermore, the system will provide much of the information needed to assess the functioning of the existing rules in a specific sector and ensure that any proposals for additional harmonisation would be based on reliable and statistically valid evidence.
- Benefits for national Member States administrations:
- Efficiency gains as a result of faster and more direct cooperation from the effective provision of mutual assistance (as required under various Internal Market Directives). These benefits will apply to national administrations at central, regional and local levels.
- Member states will be able to rely on a faster response from other Member States when information is requested.
- An electronic system is extremely efficient from the point of view of Member States that only need to manage a single relationship with a network instead of 26 bilateral relationships.
- Encoding good Internal Market behaviour into software is a powerful tool to improve enforcement of the rules as well as ensure transparency, speed, efficiency and consistency in the exchange of information.
- IMI makes certain types of administrative cooperation (which were previously impossible) feasible bringing down the unit cost of cooperation.
- Benefits for citizens / enterprises:
- European citizens and enterprises will be able to rely on a fast and constructive response by administrations to help cross-border activities and thus enable them to take advantage of Internal Market opportunities.
- Benefits for other entities:
- The EU, in general, will benefit from increased positive PR, generated by a more accessible, efficient and customer responsive Internal Market.
- Any Directorate General managing legislation with an Internal Market legal base which requires an exchange of information between national administrations or competent authorities in different Member States, will be able to use the horizontal facilities of IMI.
The role of IDABC
The Internal Market Information system will make maximum use of existing IDA software and services to the extent that it is appropriate to deliver the functionality required.
IMI development will be guided by the recommendations of the IDABC Architecture Guidelines. They will be taken into account and evaluated for the definition of the functional and technical specifications.
It is intended to use the following products:
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IDA PKI (public key infrastructure)
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CIRCA (the IMAC IMI Working Group and Professional Qualificatons IMI Group use CIRCA for sharing project documentation)
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Project start date
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2005
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Project completion date
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2009
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Project status
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ongoing
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IDA budget
IDABC budget
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€ 70,000
€ 1,300,000
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Service in charge
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Directorate General for Internal Market & Services : Unit E.3
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Responsible action manager
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LEAPMAN Nicholas
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Contact
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Countries involved
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All EU member states
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Public websites
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Documentation:
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