UK services firms will have to provide more information to access bigger markets

The Directive, which aims to promote pan-European trade in services, will be implemented in the UK from 28th December by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009. These will make it easier to trade across EU borders but will also require the publishing of certain information.

The Regulations will make it possible easily to obtain all the necessary licences to conduct business in the UK and will provide a single point of contact for regulatory matters in other EU countries.

But they also demand that businesses must publish certain information about themselves. Service businesses will have to ensure that their customers can access the following information:

• the name, legal status and address of your business
• if you are registered in a trade or other similar public register, the register's name and your registration number
• particulars of the regulator if you are subject to an authorisation scheme in the UK or other EEA country
• the relevant ID number if the service is subject to VAT
• any professional body or similar institution with which you are registered, the professional title and the EEA country in which that title was granted
• general terms and conditions
• the existence of any contractual terms concerning the competent courts or the law applicable to the contract
• the existence of any after-sales guarantee not imposed by law
• the price of the service, where pre-determined
• the main features of the service, if not clear from the context
• if you are required to hold professional liability insurance or a guarantee, information about your cover and contact details of the insurer and territorial coverage
• the contact details where customers can make a complaint.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) acknowledged in guidance to the Regulations that much of this is already common practice and will not require most businesses to change the way they conduct themselves.

"The aim of these requirements is to ensure that service recipients have access to a minimum amount of information and to a complaints procedure," said the guidance. "This should enable recipients to make more informed decisions when considering whether to buy services from a particular provider and should widen the choice of providers available to them. These requirements are, in general, already common practice, and we do not expect many service providers to have to make major changes to their procedures."

The Regulations apply to all services businesses that are not specifically excluded. Excluded businesses include those providing financial services; credit; insurance; electronic communications; transport; and healthcare.

The Directive aims to increase cross border trade, the BIS guidance said.

"Services account for around 70% of both EU output and EU employment, yet account for relatively low shares of intra-EU trade (24%) and investment," it said. "The aim of the Directive is to help open up the internal market in services further and is expected to increase output in the UK by an estimated £4-6 billion per year1, increase employment opportunities and increase trade."