The Provision of Services Regulations 2009

Businesses who provide services may be required to provide certain information under the Provision of Services Regulations. We look at how this may be applied. 

The Provision of Services Regulations 2009, which came into effect on 28 December 2009, are aimed at facilitating the provision of services across borders within the EU.  Although most of the obligations fall on regulatory and state bodies some fall on businesses who provide services.

To whom do the regulations apply?

They apply to providers in most sectors, e.g. accountancy, estate agency, tourism.

Some sectors (including financial services, transport, healthcare, temporary work agencies and gambling) are specifically excluded.

What do they require?

They require the disclosure of specified information and also that service providers respond to complaints as quickly as possible, and use their best efforts to find satisfactory solutions to complaints.

The information required is set out in a fairly detailed list and falls into two categories, information which must be made available in all cases and information which must be made available on request by a customer.

The information required in all cases includes:

• contact details for complaints
• the service provider's name, address and legal status
• details of trade registrations and any relevant regulatory authorisations
• details of any applicable general contractual terms
• details of any relevant guarantees and professional liability insurance

The information to be provided on request includes:

• the price or method of calculating the price
• any professional rules or codes of conduct to which the provider is subject
• any linked services supplied by the provider, and how the provider avoids conflicts of interest in that case

Any required information must be provided "in a clear and unambiguous manner" before the service is delivered or, in the case of a written contract, before the contract is entered into. 

So, what do you need to do?

Much, if not all, of the information required by these regulations will already be contained in service providers' websites, terms of business, email footers or terms of engagement for specific projects, but you should review these to check whether they are compliant with the regulations and, if not, add in the further information required.

It is not entirely clear how compliance with these regulations will be policed in practice but non compliance could become the subject of claims for redress to the extent that it affects issues in dispute between service providers and their customers.

Anna Thompson is a Solicitor within the Corporate Team at Michelmores. For further information on the issues raised in this article, please contact Anna at anna.thompson@michelmores.com