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The internal market of the European Community offers opportunities to citizens who wish to live and to work in another Member State, as well as to enterprises which want to expand their activities. Even if, in general, the internal market functions well, citizens and enterprises sometimes encounter problems due to a misapplication of communitarian rules by public administrations in the different Member States.
The SOLVIT network has been launched in 2002 to solve, on an informal level, cross-border problems encountered by enterprises and citizens. Moreover, it offers an alternative to the opposed long and expensive procedure in front of the Court of Justice of the European Community and contributes to a better day-to-day functioning of the internal market. Services provided by the SOLVIT centre, which are free of charge, allow perceiving the effects of the internal market in a more concrete way and reinforce citizens’ confidence in Europe.
Which problems can be treated by SOLVIT?
SOLVIT, in general, intervenes for all cross-border problems which arise between a company or citizen and a national public administration due to a misapplication of communitarian law. Examples of domains covered by SOLVIT: Infringements regarding the right to vote, Registration of cars, Public markets, Tax law, Creation of a company, Registration as an independent worker, Recognition of diplomas, Commercial transactions between Member States, etc....
Are there cases where SOLVIT cannot intervene?
SOLVIT is an informal problem resolution network for problems caused by a public authority and does not intervene if:
- A legal procedure has already been instituted
- National legislation foresees certain delays in order to guarantee your rights
- The problem arises between two companies or a customer and a company
How does SOLVIT work in practical?
SOLVIT is an online informal network. In each Member State, one public administration contains a SOLVIT centre. The centres treat the complaints from citizens, as well as from companies and engage in delivering true solutions to existing problems within a delay of 10 weeks.
The SOLVIT centre in your country (called "Centre of origin"?) first analyses your application. It then introduces the application into an online database system, which allows transmitting automatically the information of your complaint to the other SOLVIT centre in the other Member State (called "Managing centre"?).
The managing SOLVIT centre, in general, confirms within a delay of one week if they accept or refuse the complaint. In case they accept, the centre has to resolve the problem within a timeframe of 10 weeks. The two SOLVIT centres stay in contact during the treatment of your application. Eventually, the SOLVIT centre of origin will inform you about the progress of your complaint and will offer you a concrete solution for your problem.
Do you want to submit a case?
Visit the homepage: http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/ or contact:
Postal Address:
Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade
19-21, boulevard Royal
L-2914 Luxembourg
phone: (+352 247 84346) (Marco Estanqueiro)
phone: (+352) 247 84159 (Lynn Jacoby)
phone: (+352) 247 84112 (Luc Wilmes)
fax: +352 22 16 07
email: solvit@eco.etat.lu
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