Moving the Single Market Forward: Orgalime response on the Single Market Strategy

For decades, the European Single Market has been one of the main sources for jobs, prosperity and affordable goods and services for Europeans. The Single Market for products, which has been largely completed, has underpinned the growth of the engineering industry both on Europe’s home markets in Europe, but also from this, on world markets. Therefore, the Single Market is not just any policy field but a crucial one for Europe and Orgalime welcomes the European Commission’s proposal to both deepen and broaden it.

Orgalime also believes that it is essential that Europe’s Single Market should be ready for digitalisation, which will be the biggest opportunity for Europe’s manufacturing companies – both large and small - and a challenge for the next decade. Digital production will capture all sectors of the economy. Europe can maintain its high standards of living only if we manage to create the framework conditions that take on board this evolution and make Europe the place to innovate and to manufacture. Therefore, measures taken to strengthen the Single Market should focus on having a direct and positive effect on the competitiveness of the European industry and must help companies to be globally successful.

We therefore welcome the initiative of the European Commission to improve further the European Single Market and in the present position comment on some of the aspects mentioned in its Strategy that we consider are of particular importance for our industry:

- Simpler and faster removal of technical trade barriers

- Smarter market surveillance with more physical controls

- A true de-bureaucratisation and simpler conformity assessment rules

- A regulatory environment ready for the “Industrial Internet of Things”

- An approach to standardisation which takes into account the global markets of companies.