On 26 October 1992 the Commission received the report of a high-level group chaired by Peter Sutherland, a former Member of the Commission, in which the problems that the Community will face in managing the internal market are analysed and 38 possible solutions proposed. The communication adopted today is intended as an initial response from the Commission ahead of the European Council meeting in Edinburgh. A more detailed communication is planned for the first half of 1993. The communication is based on the observation that the Community is now embarked on a phase in which its main function will be to administer the rules it has adopted and to live up to its responsibilities towards consumers, firms and individuals. The central message of the Sutherland Report is to underscore the shared responsibility of the Commission and the Member States in managing of the internal market. The Commission confirms its determination to assume all its responsibilities and to exercise its prerogatives. It stresses that implementation of Community law will depend not so much on legislative instruments as on monitoring arrangements, assessment measures and direct communication. In order to bolster confidence in national systems, the Member States must endeavour to improve their administrative infrastructures, especially through computerization and training measures. At national and local level, measures must be taken to ensure that Community legislation is applied in a consistent manner, that procedures for the recognition of approvals and conformity certificates are adapted, and that appropriate training is provided for the monitoring and implementing bodies. The communication discusses the report's recommendations in six main sections: - preparation of Community legislative instruments; - application of Community law; - organization of a partnership with the Member States; - access to justice and judicial cooperation; - improvement in the quality of existing legislative instruments; - information and communication. In so doing, the communication concentrates on a number of major points on which the Sutherland group made recommendations: - Improvement in the transparency of Community rules and of their implementation: The development of Community legislation in recent years makes it imperative that the different initiatives advocated in the report be taken. The Community and the Member States are equally responsible in this area, and the latter must, if they are to fulfil their obligations satisfactorily, give appropriate notification of their implementing provisions. The Commission thus welcomes the recommendation that an annual report on the internal market be published, this also having been requested by Parliament; - Strengthening of the partnership with the Member States: While the Commission has a responsibility, as guardian of the Treaties, to ensure that all parties comply with their Community obligations, the performance and especially the practical application of those obligations come under the shared responsibility of the Member States and the Commission. It is important, therefore, that the Commission is able to rely on the Member States' expertise in order to guarantee more effectively the continued development of Community law and the implementation of the basic instruments drawn up by the Council in accordance with objective and recognized criteria; - Strengthening of control rules, notably in the field of public procurement, to ensure correct and consistent implementation in all the Member States. National courts are primarily responsible for this control, and their duty to apply Community law must be reinforced in the interests of greater effectiveness to the benefit of firms, consumers and individuals. * * *
