Guiding principles for product market and sector monitoring

This report proposes an approach for the organisation of product market and sector monitoring within the European Union. It was prepared as a contribution to the Commission’s Single Market Review, based on the work of an inter-service working group. A better monitoring of markets is expected to improve our knowledge of how these markets function and to help define better targeted and more result-oriented Single Market policies. The approach proposed is flexible, because no single method of market monitoring can cover all possible situations. Moreover, improvements in market monitoring will be achieved through learning-by-doing. This implies that one needs to build on existing experience and test cases. The report therefore does not present a rigid format for market monitoring, but rather some guiding principles based on existing experience within the Commission and Member States.