• Number: 573/PP/GRO/IMA/16/1131

Regulation of professions is often justified by national authorities on the basis of quality considerations, i.e. the extent to which the quality of the services delivered would be guaranteed by their legislation.

The research on the impact of reforms in legislation restricting the access to and/or the exercise of regulated professions on the quality of services delivered appears complex and so far not sufficiently developed at EU level. Existing studies mostly focus on their effect on business' productivity and job creation, as well as better prices for consumers.

The requested analysis will contribute to improving economic evidence on the effects of regulation of restrictions to access to and pursuit of certain regulated professions.This analysis will focus on the quality of the services provided in specific professions and countries, and the way regulatory changes may have affected that quality.

It will support the Single Market Strategy action announced in October 2015 and its follow-up, i.e. guidance identifying reform needs in Member States, showing how Member States perform in terms of enabling or restricting access to and/or the exercise of certain regulated professions.

The study will also respond to the calls for microeconomic impact evaluation of reforms and support the Commission's policy objectives in the context of the European Semester.

Finally the study should complement and add to the lessons learnt from the four independent studies published in October 2015 by the European Commission, which assessed the economic effect of reforms of regulatory requirements regarding access to and exercise of professions in four different Member States.

The findings will be for internal use as regards the methodology and indicators, but would also be published if the specific case studies of recent reforms are found to be relevant.