Over the next five years, 1 900 officials from Member State administrations who are involved in establishing the internal market, and more specifically in implementing Community legislation, will have the opportunity of working for a period of about two months on average with their counterparts in other Member States. A comprehensive guide to the exchange programme, which is known as Karolus, was today made available in the appropriate Community languages to potential participants in national administrations. Welcoming the launch of the initiative, Mr Vanni d'Archirafi, Member of the Commission with responsibility for the internal market, financial services and enterprise policy, emphasized in particular that Karolus would help to promote that mutual confidence between Member State administrations which was essential to the effective operation of the single market. It would thus help to meet a need clearly identified in the Sutherland Report. He added that the programme would bring benefits not only by increasing mutual understanding of legislation and methods of implementation and promoting greater convergence in the application of Community internal market legislation but also by encouraging the formation of a network of personal contacts between officials in different countries concerned with the operation of that legislation. For a period of about two months participating officials will work alongside their counterparts in the relevant part of the administration of another Member State. They will also attend two seminars, one before and one after their exchange. The first, designed as a preparation for the exchange period, will deal with Community policies and objectives, while the second will provide an opportunity for participants to benefit from the experience gained by others during the exchanges and to make any suggestions which they feel would improve the programme. In 1993, participants will be officials dealing with internal market legislation in a number of priority areas selected in consultation with the Member States' representatives on the management committee which assists the Commission in running the programme. The priority areas are as follows: pharmaceutical products; public procurement; export controls on dual-use products and technologies; conformity testing and market supervision; foodstuffs; plant health; banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges and institutions for collective investment in securities; road transport. Payment of participants' subsistence expenses will be shared equally by the home Member State and the Commission, while travel expenses and the cost of the seminars will be borne by the Commission. The European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht will assist the Commission in running the programme. The programme, the value of which has already been demonstrated during a pilot phase, complements other, similar initiatives such as the Matthaeus programme for customs officials, the programme for officials with responsibility for indirect taxation (currently in its pilot phase) and the exchange programme for officials responsible for veterinary matters. * * *
