In the Second Evaluation Report on EU Pilot, the European Commission considers that this initiative is no longer a project in its early and experimental phase. According to the results of the report, the projects has now become a well-established working method which is delivering results for the Commission, as well as for the participating Member States and citizens. Therefore, the Commission is exploring the possibility to extend the EU Pilot as an instrument for problem-solving and prevention.

The EU Pilot was designed in April 2008 in order to provide more rapid answers to citizens and businesses and solutions to problems, and to tighten up the handling and management of existing procedures. Further to the positive results of the first evaluation report, the EU Pilot has been extended and is now fully used by 25 Member States.

Besides, as the second report on EU Pilot shows, its scope has been expanded since March 2010. As a general rule and with limited exceptions, the system is now used in all cases concerning the correct application and implementation of EU law or the conformity of the national law with EU law at an early stage before any possible recourse to an infringement procedure. In order to ensure the efficiency of the system, the Commission has also improved the IT systems.

According to the report, during the analysed period the issues concerned in the 2,121 files submitted via EU Pilot are broadly in line with the existing situation of the volume of questions and problems arising in the different sectors of EU law. Around 33% of files concerned environmental issues, 15% internal market, 10.5% taxation, 8% mobility and transport and 6% health and consumer protection. In geographical terms, out of total files 15.5% were submitted to Italy and Spain, 8% to United Kingdom, 7.7% for Germany and 6.5% for Portugal.

EU Pilot

EU Pilot is the main tool for the Commission to communicate with the participating Member States on issues raising a question concerning the correct application of EU law or the conformity of the law in a Member State with EU law at an early stage. The system manages enquiries and complaints received from citizens and businesses as well as own-initiative cases. These include issues raised with the Commission in the European Parliament Petitions' Committee or via a letter from a Member of the European Parliament.