A draft EU directive that would enable solicitors to work throughout the EU without being subject to a labyrinth of local professional rules suffered a major setback this week as both the French and German governments announced their opposition to the proposal.

The draft EU Framework Services Directive is intended to open up the provision of all services across the EU, including legal services.


Under the proposals, solicitors working abroad would be subject to Law Society professional rules, rather than those of the country in which they operated.


The move would make it easier for lawyers to offer their services abroad, but the French Bar has raised concerns over consumer protection, and the possibility that unregulated claims farmers who give legal advice in the UK would be allowed to operate in France without regulation.


June O'Keefe, head of EU and World Trade Organisation affairs at the Law Society, said: 'UK lawyers have been very successful abroad, but at the moment there are still obstacles.


'France is putting a lot of pressure on the European Commission to withdraw the directive or take out the country of origin principle [whereby the home professional rules apply]. Without that, it would be a very different directive that does not advance us a lot.'


Jonathan Goldsmith, secretary- general of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE), said: 'We are currently discussing how best to resolve the problems created by the current rules, particularly the issue of double ethics where lawyers are regulated by both the home and the host bars. But we have agreed that the answer is not to be subjected to a general directive that does not take account of the particular needs of lawyers.'