In the EU Member States chimney sweeping services are provided in different ways and in
various organisational forms, as services of general economic interest, as public service
concessions, or as partly or completely liberalized services on the internal market of the
European Union. On the internal market of the EU chimney sweeping services, as all other
services, have to be implemented in accordance with the rules, ensuring free market and
competitiveness, in so far as the application of such rules does not obstruct the
performance of the particular tasks assigned to them to achieve specific objectives in the
general public interest.
The master thesis deals with the problem of liberalization of the chimney sweeping
services in accordance with the rules of competitiveness on the EU internal market and
analyses the implementation of the concession and the licensing system of these services
in Slovenia and in some other EU countries regarding compliance with the fundamental
principles and rules of EU law in particular in terms of equality and non-discrimination,
transparency and proportionality, pursuing public interest for protecting the environment,
human health and fire safety. In both systems, it analyses, compares and assesses the
level of protection of public interest, competitiveness of these services, as well as the
content and the scope of direct inspection of chimney sweeping service providers and
users.
Three main findings are highlighted in the master's thesis. The concession system for the
provision of the chimney sweeping services may be inconsistent with the fundamental
principles and the rules of EU law. The licensing system for the provision of chimney
sweeping services, based solely on the legally regulated liberalization of the service
market, does not guarantee protection of the public interest for protecting the
environment, human health and fire safety. The implementation of licensing system for
the provision of chimney sweeping services in comparison with the concession system
significantly increases the scope of direct administrative and inspection supervision of the
chimney-sweeping providers and the users of small combustion installations.
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