Details:

Luxembourg's Ministry of Economy and the Department of Law of the University of Luxembourg are organising a conference on the occasion of SOLVIT’s 20th anniversary on 14 October 2022 at Weicker Building (room B001) in 4 Rue Alphonse Weicker L-2721 Luxembourg.

SOLVIT is a network of 30 national centres based in government departments and agencies in all EU countries and in Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein. It provides free-of-charge assistance to resolve cross-border problems and barriers individuals and businesses face when exercising their rights in the Single Market.

The conference will focus on the development of SOLVIT from an information exchange system based on the Internal Market Information System (IMI) towards a more complex tool designed to ensure the decentralisation of the implementation of EU law under the monitoring of the European Commission. The conference will also provide an opportunity to reflect more broadly on the need for reform in the implementation of Single Market law.

Programme

10:30-10:45 Welcome remarks

10:45- 12:05 Fist part: 20 years of experience with and evolution of SOLVIT – what do we learn?

- Anoushka Janssens: Team leader of the internal market problem solving network SOLVIT, European Commission

- Cindy Bauwens: Head of the Luxembourg SOLVIT Centre, Ministry of the Economy

- Rosarinho Melancia: Head of the Portugal SOLVIT Centre, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

- Heike Otterbein: Seconded National Expert at the European Commission, Former Head of SOLVIT France

  • Development of SOLVIT: mandate, complaint handling procedure, IMI, role of the European Commission, follow-up of structural and recurrent cases
  • Recent legal developments: the SOLVIT problem-solving procedure in the Mutual Recognition Regulation
  • Persistent barriers in the Single Market and SOLVIT’s struggles
  • Reflection on the adaptation of the SOLVIT structure (IMI)/legal basis (Recommendation) and working methods to the current challenges of the network

12:05-13:05 Lunch break

13:05 – 14:25 Second part: Developing SOLVIT towards a default tool for dispute settlement – what this would require.

- Prof Diana Urania Galetta, University of Milan

- Rosita Hickey, Director of Inquiries at the European Ombudsman

- Agnès Courades Allebeck: Head of Department for the Single Market at the Swedish National Board of Trade

- Prof Mira Scholten, Utrecht University

  • SOLVIT, the need of a SOLVIT binding legal basis at EU level?
  • The decentralisation of enforcement
  • The need of a Single Market Ombudsman in every EU state?
  • Procedural requirements for an enhanced SOLVIT mandate

14:25-15:55 Coffee break

15:55-17:15 Third part: SOLVIT between litigation, ombuds-review and the Commission’s review of Member State enforcement.

- Marc Jaeger, Tribunal CJUE

- Margarida Marques, Member of the European Parliament

- Martin Frohn, Head of Unit Single Market Enforcement, European Commission

- Prof Jacques Ziller, Milan

  • The role of the European Commission and ECJ in EU law enforcement
  • Litigation vs alternative dispute settlement tools such as SOLVIT
  • Ombuds-review and SOLVIT or SOLVIT as Ombuds-system?

17:15 – 17:30 Closing remarks: Franz Fayot, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy

Further details is available online via: https://www.eventbrite.fr/e/billets-solvit-towards-a-default-tool-for-dispute-settlement-in-the-single-market-423281254627.

Venue: University of Luxembourg - Weicker Building (room B001) 4 Rue Alphonse Weicker 2721 Luxembourg

Organiser: Department of Law of the University of Luxembourg

Price: n/a

Reservations: see above