European Council finalizes internal market emergency framework

Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Council adopted the Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act.

The EU Council has given its final consent to a regulation establishing a framework of actions on the emergency and resilience of the internal market, better known as the Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (IMERA). This is the last phase in the decision-making procedure.

How does the Internal Market Emergency Act function?

The regulation adopted is planned to anticipate, prepare for, and react to any future emergencies by observing any possible upcoming situations, activating caution or emergency modes as and when they occur, and coordinating responses at the EU and member state levels. 

The Council has also assumed a package of measures (the ‘IMERA omnibus’) that amend existing legislation in dimensions relating to the internal market and update them concerning crises.

what are the main goals of the IMERA regulation?

IMERA forms an ‘advisory group’ formed by the Commission and the member states to evaluate a given situation and recommend reactions whenever the vigilance or emergency modes are activated. IMERA supplies emergency last-resort actions such as targeted information requests to economic operators, priority-rated requests for crisis-relevant products, a fast-track process to bring certain products onto the call and derogations from product-specific rules.

In the next steps, following the Council’s approval the legislative act has been assumed. After being signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council, the regulation will be issued in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force on the 20th day following its journal. Member States will have a term of 18 months to implement the new regulations once the regulation comes into force.

What lessons did the EU learn from the covid-19 pandemic?

The European Council decisions of 1-2 October 2020 said that the EU would draw lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and handle the remaining fragmentation of, barriers to and disadvantages of the Single Market in facing emergencies. In the update of the industrial strategy communication, the Commission declared an instrument to ensure the free movement of persons, goods, and services, as well as tremendous transparency and coordination in times of crisis.

On 19 September 2022, the Commission introduced to the EU Parliament and the Council a proposal for a principle on a single market emergency instrument (SMEI). The Council adopted its general procedure on 6 June 2023, and the Parliament and the Council called a provisional agreement on 1 February 2024. One of the results of the negotiations was a change to the name of the regulation, which has since become understood as the Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (IMERA).