The Commission has welcomed the Municipality of Lloret de Vistalegre on the island of Majorca as the 5.000th authority to sign up for the Internal Market Information (IMI) system. The system is currently being used for administrative cooperation in the context of the recognition of professional qualifications and the provision of cross-border services under the Services Directive, providing service for those modules to 870 and more than 4.800 authorities respectively. 400 authorities and IMI coordinators have access to the system for both legislative areas.

The Internal Market Information (IMI) System is a secure online application that allows national, regional and local authorities to communicate quickly and easily with their counterparts elsewhere in the Union. Such consultation include for example cases in which a municipality needs to verify if a company willing to provide its services in this municipality is lawfully established in its country. IMI allows to make such verifications easily.

IMI was developed by the Commission in close cooperation with EU Member States and has been operational since November 2008. It now reaches the 5.000th authority to sign up with this system, by the registration of the Spanish Municipality of Lloret de Vistalegre.

Because Member States have been closely involved in devising the system, IMI offers uniform working methods agreed by every EU country. Should disputes arise, national or regional IMI coordinators can intervene. The Commission runs a central IMI helpdesk.

IMI allows competent authorities to communicate quickly and easily with their counterparts abroad. IMI helps users to find the right authority to contact in another country and communicate with it using pre-translated sets of standard questions and answers.

How does the Internal Market Information (IMI) System work?

The Internal Market Information (IMI) System is used by competent authorities at national, regional and local level in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway who deal with the specific legislation supported by it. Registration in IMI is only open to these authorities and has to be approved by an IMI coordinator.

The system which has helped competent authorities in the Member States to overcome the main barriers to seeking assistance from other Member States, has been closely followed by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) in order to ensure that IMI System meets the highest respect to privacy and safeguard guaranties.

IMI has been designed as a general instrument which can be customised to support all kinds of internal market legislation with minimum technical development. It is currently used for administrative cooperation on the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) and on the Services Directive (2006/123/EC). Between January and June 2010, IMI was used in more than 930 cases. In nearly 50% of these cases, the requesting authority received a reply within a week. Information exchanges concern, amongst many other professions: veterinarians, dentists, teachers, architects and tour guides. The Commission is currently exploring with Member States in which other areas IMI can be used.