Differences in national legal systems create bureaucratic barriers for companies, slow down investment and limit efficiencies of scale and the benefits of synergy, but these differences exist even in areas that have already been harmonised by directives, but the directives have been implemented inconsistently in the Member States, and therefore the barriers to doing business on the Single Market persist.

Many scientists have pointed out the irony that, at the historical moment when we have the technologies to permit worldwide availability and distributed processing of scientific data, legal restrictions on transfer make it harder to connect the dots.

59. Recommends that the 2006 Summit formally adopt a comprehensive inventory of any legal, practical and technical barriers to cross-border procurement between both partners, together with a list of measures to address them; that takes into account the particular case of services of general interest; encourages both partners to go beyond existing and future GPA-commitments, thus making it possible, on the one hand, to widen the field of opportunities for both parties and, on the other, to boost European competitiveness and create new markets for EU businesses, particularly SMEs;

56. Recommends that the 2006 Summit formally adopts a comprehensive inventory of any legal, practical and technical barriers for cross border procurement between both partners together with a list of the measures to address them; encourages that both partners go beyond existing and future GPA-commitments, thus making it possible, on the one hand, to widen the field of opportunities for both parties and, on the other, to boost European competitiveness and create new markets for EU businesses, particularly SMEs;

However, mobile researchers still face legal, administrative and information problems, notably related to tax and social security, and other obstacles to inter-sectoral and transnational mobility.

To that end, those national provisions on copyright and related rights which vary considerably from one Member State to another or which cause legal uncertainties hindering the smooth functioning of the internal market and the proper development of the information society in Europe should be adjusted, and inconsistent national responses to the technological developments should be avoided, whilst differences not adversely affecting the functioning of the internal market need not be removed or prevented.