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Compliance in the single market

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michelle Egan  and
Maria Helena Guimarães
Maria Helena Guimarães
Affiliation:
University of Minho, Portugal
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Abstract

This article focuses on the barriers faced by firms due to non-compliance with European law. Although there is an extensive literature on non-compliance in the European Union, there has not been any systematic assessment of the barriers faced by firms in trying to market their products across different national boundaries. We draw on a comprehensive database of over 2000 cases of business complaints about regulatory and administrative barriers encountered in the single market. Our empirical findings survey the range and type of barriers that affect different industrial sectors, the variation in compliance with European law among member states, and the different solutions used to address business complaints about the functioning of the single market. The data shows that firms continue to face considerable challenges in operating the single market, and that there are still trade and growth dividends to be harnessed from addressing the remaining barriers to trade.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2013 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

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