Single point of contact

The Single Point of Contact provides information on the necessary formalities and, at the request of the service provider, acts as a procedural mediator.

Within the scope of application of the EU Services Directive (Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market), service providers from Germany, other EU countries and countries treated as such (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) can handle procedures and formalities that are necessary for the commencement and exercise of service activities via the Point of Single Contact.

The Point of Single Contact provides basic information for service providers and recipients, e.g. on:

• Requirements, procedures and formalities for taking up and pursuing service activities
• contact details of the competent authorities
• generally available legal remedies in the event of a dispute
• supporting associations and organizations.

The service provider can handle procedures and formalities within the scope of the Services Directive via the Point of Single Contact. This includes declarations, registrations and applications for authorizations from the competent authorities, including applications for entry in registers, professional roles or databases.

The Point of Single Contact supports service providers beyond the start-up phase in service-related authorization procedures.

He receives all procedural correspondence and forwards it to both the competent authority and the applicant.

• dependent on the specific request

The service provider must be a national of an EU Member State or a country treated as such (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), or the company with its own legal personality must have its registered office in one of these countries or have been founded there.

The Single Point of Contact is also available for purely German domestic cases.

The economic activity must also fall within the scope of the Services Directive.

This applies to a broad, non-exhaustively defined range of service sectors. In principle, it applies to all tradable services. This includes, for example, trade, gastronomy, crafts, IT services, research and development, business services and technical services, consulting and the construction industry.

However, the Services Directive also provides for a number of exceptions and clarifications to protect particularly sensitive areas or areas that are already regulated elsewhere. For example, the directive excludes labor law, civil and criminal law issues as well as areas such as health, social, transport and financial services.

If you enter your project in the Bavarian Services Portal(www.dienstleistungsportal.bayern.de) under the heading "Formalities", you will receive information on whether it falls within the scope of the Services Directive and whether you can therefore process the professional procedures and formalities required to take up and exercise the service activity via the Point of Single Contact.

Whether a deadline applies depends on the specific procedure.

The points of single contact may charge fees and expenses for their activities.