On 28 December 2006, EC Directive 2006/123 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding services in the internal market came into force (Services Directive). Member States have a transposition deadline of three years, which ends on 28 December 2009.
As explained in the White Paper for the reform of the service sector, the transposition of the Services Directive into the Spanish law is viewed both as a challenge and at the same time as a great opportunity. Indeed, the transposition process represents a unique occasion to lower unjustified or disproportionate barriers to the access and exercise of a service activity in certain sectors, which will therefore encourage business activity and contribute towards improving regulation. Improvement of the regulatory framework will lead to gains in efficiency, productivity and employment in the sectors involved, besides an increase in the variety and quality of the services available to companies and the community.
In order to carry out a proper transposition of the Directive, Spain has opted for the preparation of a Horizontal Law of Transposition which should promote a broad application of the general principles of the Directive with few restrictions (Law governing the free access to and exercise of service activities)
Furthermore, with a view to providing the necessary encouragement for the transposition process, Spain has also opted for introducing an Omnibus Law, which will amend the legislation in order to bring them into line with the principles of the law on free access and exercise of service activities.