Solicitors are to face greater European Union (EU) involvement in the way they run their practices if the European Commission has its way with proposals to regulate service providers, money laundering and the Internet.According to the Law Society's Brussels office, the Commission has adopted an action plan on consumer policy and is planning to survey the practical problems faced by consumers in different service sectors, especially those of a transnational nature.

The Commission will then propose initiatives on both service safety and the liability of service providers, including lawyers.Meanwhile, the European Parliament's legal affairs committee has produced a draft report in response to a Commission report on the implementation of the 1991 money laundering Directive.

The Parliament called on the Commission to propose amendments to the Directive to extend its provisions on reporting suspicious transactions, so they would cover professions at risk of being involved in money laundering, such as lawyers, accountants and estate agents.

However, the Brussels office reported that this led to a heated debate in the Parliament regarding concerns that wider money laundering provisions would undermine professional confidentiality.In response to a Commission communication on commercial communications, MEPs have also adopted a draft report from their economic and monetary affairs committee supporting the principle of mutual recognition.

This would mean that if advertising by lawyers was allowed in the UK, then it should be allowed in all other EU member states.

If mutual recognition was not possible because of national sensitivities, then self-regulation should apply, the report said.Elsewhere, Spain's legal system has come in for criticism on two fronts.

The Commission has decided to refer Spain to the European Court of Justice because of a requirement under the Spanish code for civil proceedings for foreign nationals who act as plaintiffs before national courts to give a financial guarantee to cover costs and lawyers' fees on the defendant's application.

Spanish nationals do not face a similar requirement, a situation that has previously been ruled as illegal.The Commission has also initiated the second stage of article 169 infringement proceedings against Spain regarding a law requiring non-residents to use a Spanish notary when buying property even if the contracting parties have already signed an agreement before a foreign notary.

Spanish residents are not similarly bound.

The Commission considers that this discriminatory practice impedes the free movement of workers, freedom of establishment, freedom to provide services and free movement of capital.