9 January 2012 – Written Question to Commission
Written Question to the European Commission 9 January 2012:
The Services Directive (2006/123/EC) aims to remove the legal and administrative barriers to trade in the services sector. It defines a service in Article 4(1) as any self-employed economic activity provided for remuneration, as referred to in Article 57 of the Treaty.
Article 57 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states: ‘Services shall be considered to be “services” within the meaning of this Treaty where they are normally provided for remuneration, in so far as they are not governed by the provisions relating to freedom of movement for goods, capital and persons. “Services” shall in particular include:
(a) activities of an industrial character;
(b) activities of a commercial character;
(c) activities of craftsmen;
(d) activities of the professions.
In the UK pedlars are regulated by the Pedlars Act 1871 (as amended). Such independent sole sellers of goods and services are defined in the legislation as ‘as any hawker, pedlar, petty chapman, tinker, caster of metals, mender of chairs, or other person who, without any horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden, travels and trades on foot and goes from town to town or to other men’s houses, carrying to sell or exposing for sale any goods, wares, or merchandise, or procuring orders for goods, wares, or merchandise immediately to be delivered, or selling or offering for sale his skill in handicraft.’
1. Can the Commission confirm whether retail work by pedlars — be that selling goods in public places or via door-to-door sales — falls within the definition of services within the Services Directive?
2. Can the Commission confirm whether the retail sector falls within the definition of a service under the Services Directive?
link to Commission Question