On the initiative of Mr Vanni d'Archirafi, the Commission Member with special responsibility for the internal market, financial services, institutional matters and enterprise policy, the Commission discussed on 20 January the situation as at 1 January 1993 with regard to completion of the internal market and conducted an initial review of progress in removing frontier controls. Although the situation as at 1 January 1993 can be regarded as a success, it is one whose foundations must be consolidated. Decisions still need be taken and implementing difficulties resolved if the internal market is to become a genuine area without internal frontiers and if businesses and individuals are to reap the expected benefits. With a few exceptions, all controls on goods, services and capital at the Community's internal frontiers were dismantled in a generally satisfactory manner on 1 January 1993. A number of dossiers of importance for the smooth functioning of the internal market but not essential to the removal of frontier controls are, however, still before the Council. They include proposals for dual-use goods and technologies, road cabotage and cultural goods. Even so, as regards the free movement of individuals, a great deal remains to be done to ensure the abolition of identity checks at the Community's internal frontiers. The Schengen countries are expected to dispense with such checks by 1 July 1993 at land and sea frontiers and by 31 December 1993 at airports. There are still problems to be resolved if the other Member States are to follow suit. The dismantling of frontier controls has been possible only as a result of a major drive to bring the legal and administrative systems of the Twelve more closely into line. If the internal market is to be achieved in full, it is essential that the mutual confidence that exists between Member States be preserved and indeed reinforced. The Commission will, therefore, have to continue its tight monitoring of the application of Community instruments in the Member States (legal transposition and effective implementation) and will deal rapidly with any the problems that might arise following the removal of frontier controls. With this in mind, the Commission, on a proposal from Mr Vanni d'Archirafi, has decided to take a number of procedural measures and to adopt certain work priorities: - the Advisory Committee for Coordination within the Internal Market Field, made up of representatives of each Member State and established by the Commission on 21 December 1992, will meet on 2 February to draw up the guidelines of the strategy for managing the internal market in accordance with the findings of the Sutherland report, to review the situation with regard to the transposition of directives into national law and, lastly, to examine the special cases arising from the removal of frontier controls. The Committee will constitute the strategic framework for the ongoing dialogue between the Commission and the Member States; - all the work in the internal market field will be made more transparent for Member States, economic operators and third countries by publishing an annual report, with the first such report being produced during the second half of 1993; - a network of contact points in the Member States will be set up to ensure rapid intervention as and when problems arise, and a strategy for keeping individuals informed will be devised. The Commission takes the view that the achievements to date must be rapidly consolidated on the basis of a comprehensive, integrated approach to all the problems associated with the operation of the single market. In the months ahead, therefore, all the Community and national administrations must adopt a disciplined approach and, in particular, must intervene swiftly to tackle any problems arising in this connection. On this hinges the credibility of all that has been achieved by the Community over the last eight years, together with the economic and industrial impact that the internal market will have and the contribution to be made by the single market to economic and monetary union. * * *
