Internal Market Unit

SOLVIT

Please Note: Travel

The Irish SOLVIT Centre regularly gets requests for urgent help in relation to travel issues (Visas) over the Summer holidays and other holiday periods. Non-EU family members of EU citizens should make enquiries with the Embassy of the Member State they intend visiting in good time before finalising their plans.

Please note, SOLVIT can only act where there has been a misapplication of EU law by a public body and cases can take up to 10 weeks to resolve. Therefore it is often not possible for SOLVIT to assist with such complaints.

The Irish SOLVIT Centre now has its own dedicated website at: http://www.solvitireland.ie

SOLVIT 2009 Annual Report

• Development and performance of the SOLVIT Network in 2009
• Press Release for 2009 Report

SOLVIT notes for information on avoiding cross border problems in the EU

• SOLVIT Note on Marriages in Embassies in Ireland
• SOLVIT Note on Travel
• SOLVIT Note on Property

SOLVIT is an informal problem-solving network launched by the European Commission in 2002. It was created to solve problems that EU citizens or businesses are experiencing with the public administrations of EU Member States. These problems must be associated with a denial of their Internal Market rights due to Internal Market law not being applied correctly. There are SOLVIT Centres in all EU and EEA States.

The success of the Internal Market depends on the proper and timely application of its rules. If goods carrying the EC mark are exported from Ireland to another Member State which blocks their importation because they don’t carry the standard mark of that Member State, the Irish SOLVIT Centre will contact the SOLVIT Centre of the Member State concerned to ascertain why the goods have been blocked, to get them released, if they were blocked illegally, and to have to the matter resolved quickly. If a member of a regulated profession who was trained in another Member State wishes to work here but is experiencing a delay in having his or her qualifications processed by the relevant professional body here, the Irish SOLVIT Centre will request the professional body to inform the person concerned in good time (a) that he or she is entitled to practice his or her profession in Ireland or (b) that he or she is not entitled to do so, and if so why.

Where the Irish SOLVIT Centre is satisfied that a case referred to it is one in which EU law is possibly being misapplied, it will raise the problem with the appropriate authority here or with its counterpart in the Member State concerned on behalf of the client. The SOLVIT Centres are committed to getting a response within ten weeks without prejuduce to the right of their clients to pursue other action, including legal action, if they are not satisfied with the response.

As SOLVIT represents an informal approach to problem solving, the SOLVIT system would not be used in situations where:

• Legal proceedings are under way
• The problem relates to a legal obstacle e.g. where the problem concerns an obstacle which results from a legal provision of national law. In this situation, it is unlikely that an informal system such as SOLVIT will be able to provide redress
• Where deadlines under national law need to be respected

The Irish SOLVIT Centre can be contacted at the following address:

Irish SOLVIT Centre,
Department of Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation,
Room 504,
Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.

Sinead Ryan, Tel: (01) 631 3875
Marc Ledwith, Tel: (01) 631 3873
Alfie Smith, Tel: (01) 631 2532
Fax: (01) 631 3853
Email: solvit@djei.ie

The following forms can be used when contacting SOLVIT with your complaint. You do not have to use these forms. You can also submit your complaint by ordinary letter but if you do so please include as much relevant information and documentation as possible.
SOLVIT Business Complaint Form
SOLVIT Business Complaint Form – Irish version

SOLVIT Citizen Complaint Form
SOLVIT Citizen Complaint Form – Irish version

More information on SOLVIT, including the contact details of all the SOLVIT Centres, can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/centres/index_en.htm

Enterprise Europe Network In Ireland

Please find link to the Enterprise Europe Network in Ireland. The Enterprise Europe Network in Ireland provides support to Irish businesses about single market issues.