SOLVIT is an informal problem-solving network of the European Commission and the member states of the European Union and the EEA. Created in 2002,[1] it assists citizens and businesses to ascertain their EU rights where a dispute has arisen between a citizen or a company and a public authority of a member state of the European Union and the EEA other than their country of origin. There is a SOLVIT centre in every member state (as well as in the EEA member states Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein).

SOLVIT is free of charge, and mainly an online service.[2]

Whenever a problem occurs, the SOLVIT centres of the two countries concerned (the complainant's country of origin and the country where the problem occurred) will try to reach a solution within ten weeks.

On 2 May 2017 the European Commission announced a package of measures intended to enhance the functioning of the Single Market within the EU,[3] which included a proposed action plan on reinforcing SOLVIT.[4] The Commission published a report in September 2022 celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the network. The report noted that 28,600 cases had been addressed during this 20-year period and 85% of these had been resolved.[1]

The UK's Single Market Centre, which provided SOLVIT services for UK businesses and consumers, closed in January 2021.[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b European Commission, SOLVIT’s Helping Hand in the Single Market: celebrating 20 years, Commission Staff Working Document, published 26 September 2022, accessed 15 March 2023
  2. ^ "What is SOLVIT?". SOLVIT. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  3. ^ European Commission, New steps to enhance the functioning of the EU Single Market, accessed 16 May 2017
  4. ^ European Commission, Action plan on the Reinforcement of SOLVIT: Bringing the benefits of the Single Market to citizens and businesses, 2 May 2017, accessed 16 May 2017
  5. ^ UK Government, UK Single Market Centre, accessed 15 March 2023
edit