The Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) accepted a proposal by the European Commission to impose three criteria which Croatia must meet if it wants to open talks on the free movement of goods.
According to the first benchmark, Croatia will have to entirely define all infrastructure procedures related to accreditation, standardisation, metrology, and the legal framework for the implementation of technical legislation.
The second benchmark refers to the adoption of a comprehensive strategy for the application of EU legislation in this chapter, including deadlines for the implementation of legal measures and promotion of administrative capacity in all sectors.
The third benchmark refers to the adoption of an action plan for the removal of a sort of covert restrictions for the free movement of goods in the single EU market.
The free movement of goods is the sixth chapter for which Croatia was given benchmarks. Screening for this chapter was completed in mid-February.
The free movement of goods is one of the four freedoms (free movement of goods, capital, persons and services) on which the functioning of the single European market is based. This chapter, which regulates free movement of goods in the single EU market, is comprehensive and technically demanding and consists of a number of standards, rules, directives and regulations.