Services Directive incorporated into Services Act

Scope of the Services Act

The Services Act applies to almost all service providers, from fitters and painters to window cleaners and plumbers. It regulates:

• which services and service providers are subject to the Services Act and which are not;

• the requirements an authority must fulfil when issuing a licence. For example, it must confirm receipt of the licence application;

• a service provider’s right to deal with an authority digitally (e.g. to apply for a licence). This saves time;

• cooperation between all EU supervisory authorities. In the Netherlands these include the municipal and provincial authorities;

• mutual recognition of certificates and declarations. A Dutch hygiene certificate, for example, is also valid in other EU member states;

• the right to receive information from both service providers and service receivers, e.g. information on the rules that service providers must observe to offer a service.