§ Lord Shore of Stepneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
With reference to Article 14(1) of the Consolidated Version of the European Community Treaty, what proposals have been advanced and what discussions have taken place to agree a new date, other than that of 31 December 1992, by which the Council shall "adopt measures with the aim of progressively establishing the internal market", and, with reference to Article 14(3) of the European Community Treaty, what proposals the Commission has made to the Council to "determine the guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned". [HL1568]
§ Lord Simon of HighburyThe Cockfield White Paper established the general legislative programme for the completion of the Single Market with a target date of 31 December 1992. In line with this, the Council adopted a wide range of measures with the aim of progressively establishing the Internal Market. As the legal framework of the Single Market was largely put in place by the end of 1992, this aim has been achieved and there has been no need to discuss further dates.
Work is, however, continuing on ensuring that the Single Market is functioning effectively and there will remain a need for legislation in, for instance, new or changing areas of the economy. In pursuing this, the Commission presented to the European Council meeting at Amsterdam a Single Market Action Plan (SMAP), which included a number of targets, covering the period June 1997 to December 1998. The SMAP also contributes to the process of economic reform in the EU which the UK strongly supports. Now that the SMAP has expired, we expect the Commission to propose to the Council shortly a follow -up programme. These initiatives are obviously in line with the intentions of, though not actually based on, Article 7b EEC (Article 14(3) of the Consolidated Version of the European Community Treaty).
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