Helping citizens and firms to cope with national bureaucracies when they are called to apply EU regulations relating to the single market: that’s the task of the Solvit network created by the EU in 2002. Over the last five years the network has in particular solved 1,800 cases of citizens “who live, work, study or conduct a commercial activity in another country of the EU”. “For example, Solvit has facilitated – explains a statement put out by the Commission – the sale in France of cheeses made by an Austrian firm, the opening in Germany of a hairdressing salon by a British hairdresser and the installation in Ireland of a Hungarian doctor to practice his profession there”. Solvit “now intends to draw on the results achieved to augment its capacity and make its services known to a larger number of citizens”. From a review of the first five years of this service it emerges that the sectors in which its intervention is most frequently requested are social security, tax regime, the recognition of professional qualifications and access of products to the internal market. But how does Solvit work? When citizens or businesses encounter a problem of trans-frontier dimension “caused by the incorrect application of EU legislation”, they can compile and send in a form denouncing the irregularity either online or by contacting their national Solvit centre by e-mail or by telephone. (Info: http://ec.europa.eu/solvit).
