Crisis preparedness: Council adopts the internal market emergency and resilience act
The Council has today given its final approval to a regulation establishing a framework of measures on the emergency and resilience of the internal market, better known as the internal market emergency and resilience act (IMERA). This is the last step in the decision-making procedure. The regulation adopted today is intended to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to any future emergencies by monitoring any possible upcoming crises, activating vigilance or emergency modes as and when they happen and coordinating responses at EU and member state level. The Council has also adopted a package of measures (the ‘IMERA omnibus’) that amend existing legislation in areas relating to the internal market and update them with regard to crisis situations.
Preparing for the next crisis
IMERA creates an ‘advisory group’ formed by the Commission and the member states to assess a given situation and recommend responses whenever the vigilance or emergency modes are activated.
IMERA provides for emergency last-resort measures such as targeted information requests to economic operators, priority-rated requests for crisis-relevant products, a fast-track procedure to bring certain products on to the market and derogations from product-specific rules.
The Commission will undertake stress tests and simulations of different crisis situations to assess the possible impact on the free movement of goods, services and persons. Economic operators are also encouraged to develop protocols and to conduct training and crisis simulations.
Next steps
Following the Council’s approval today, the legislative act has been adopted. After being signed by the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council, the regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force on the 20th day following its publication. Member States will have a period of 18 months to implement the new rules once the regulation comes into force.
Background
The European Council conclusions of 1-2 October 2020 stated that the EU would draw lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and address the remaining fragmentation of, barriers to and weaknesses of the Single Market in facing emergency situations. In the update of the industrial strategy communication, the Commission announced an instrument to ensure the free movement of persons, goods and services, as well as greater transparency and coordination in times of crisis.
On 19 September 2022, the Commission submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council a proposal for a regulation on a single market emergency instrument (SMEI). The Council adopted its general approach on 6 June 2023, and the Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on 1 February 2024. One of the outcomes of the negotiations was a change to the name of the regulation, which has since become known as the internal market emergency and resilience act (IMERA).