EU discrimination for foreign retailers

According to new findings by the British Retail Consortium,

discriminatory legislation is preventing UK retailers launching stores in EU countries.

Not only does costly regulation make it difficult for small retailers, but beyond that the EU have failed to remove national barriers to cross border investment.

The BRC claims that, while the UK is the EU’s biggest destination for retail investment, other countries “do not take the same positive view of a free market”. For instance, there are sales restrictions in Belgium, and hard hitting tax laws for foreign retailers in Hungary.

BRC Director General Stephen Robertson said: “The UK shows the clear economic and customer benefits that come from a genuinely open market. Too many other EU countries just don't get that. We currently have the disadvantages of a costly regulation machine without the full access to 500 million customers that a proper single market would give.”