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Question:

Which services are within scope of the Directive ?

Answer:

The basic rule is that a service is within scope of the Directive unless it is explicitly excluded from it. The following is the list of services excluded from the Directive:

1. Financial services, such as banking, credit, insurance and re-insurance, occupational and personal pensions, securities, investment funds, payment and investment advice, including the business of credit institution.
2. Electronic communications services and networks, and associated facilities and networks as defined in five Directives on electronic communications and related matters in five 2002 Directives. These Directives were largely implemented in the UK by the Communications Act 2003. Such services and networks include, for example, voice telephony and electronic mail services.
3. Services in the field of transport including air transport, maritime and inland waterways transport, including port services, as well as road and rail transport, in particular urban transport, taxis and ambulances.
   Examples of services which are not covered by this exclusion are removal services, car rental services, funeral services and aerial photography services. Neither does the exclusion cover commercial activities in ports such as shops and restaurants.
4. Services of temporary work agencies. The HMG view is that this covers only the hiring out and placement of workers in temporary work, and does not cover other services provided by the same agency. BIS considers that “temporary work agency” should be defined as set out in the Employment Agencies Act 1973, section 13(3).
5. Healthcare services. This exclusion covers healthcare and pharmaceutical services provided by health professionals to patients to assess, maintain or restore their state of health where those activities are reserved to a regulated health professional in the Member State in which the services are provided.
6. Audiovisual services, including cinemas and broadcast services but not, in HMG’s view, storage of celluloid material for which a licence is currently required.
7. Gambling services, which involve wagering a stake for monetary value in a game of chance, including lotteries, gambling in casinos and betting transactions.
8. The exercise of official authority as set out on Article 45 of the Treaty.
9. Social services relating to social housing, childcare and the support of families in need, where these are provided by the State, by providers mandated by the State or by charities recognised as such by the State. The HMG view is that services provided on a charitable basis by Registered Social landlords are out of scope of the Directive. Services provided on a commercial basis by charitable organisations or their trading subsidiaries are, however, in scope of the Directive.
10. Private security services.
11. Services provided by notaries and bailiffs appointed by an Act of Parliament.

Services of a general economic interest (such as the Post Office), non-economic services of a general interest and taxation are also excluded from the Directive.