Upcoming legal challenges for cross-border e-health services in the EU

The paper briefly describes the current EU legal framework in the healthcare field and assess to which extent it could apply to the provision of cross border eHealth services. In particular, it analyses the provision of such services from the free movement angle, i.e. whether EU law guarantees to health professionals access to and exercise of activiti es in the 3rd type of situations, as well as whether the insured persons have the right to reimbursement of costs of such healthcare from their social security system

SVEIKATOS PRIEŽIŪRA PAGAL EUROPOS SĄJUNGOS VIDAUS RINKOS TEISĘ

In the context of ongoing and future discussions regarding possible reorganization of the Lithuanian healthcare system in accordance with the constitutional requirements, this article strives to contribute to the discussions by showing the potential of the application of the freedoms of the internal market to healthcare. In particular, it examines the extent to which the freedom of services and the freedom of establishment are applicable to healthcare, and analyses the basis for the Union competence in the healthcare area and its limits. It also aims to establish, where the current European Union (EU) law strikes a balance between the internal market and the power of the Member States to organise their social security (healthcare) systems.The principles of free movement within internal market were designed, in essence, with economical considerations in mind, whereas healthcare is often perceived from the national point of view as a service of public interest exclusively falling under the national competence. However, through the broad interpretation by the Court of Justice of the EU of the notions of the internal market, such as “services”, “companies or firms” and „restrictions“, the principles of free movement were brought to apply to full extent to healthcare. Almost any activity within the healthcare sector is therefore an economical activity from the point of view of the internal market freedoms and falls under the scope and scrutiny of EU law.Nevertheless, the article shows that the development of EU law in the area is not monolitic. The practical consequences in the field of the application to healthcare of the freedom of services are far more reaching than in the field of the freedom of establishment, where a certain reservation on the part of the Court of Justice of the EU might be currently observed.Straipsnyje tiriama Europos Sąjungos teisės laisvo paslaugų judėjimo ir įsisteigimo laisvės srityse taikymo sveikatos priežiūros veiklai apimtis, analizuojamas Europos Sąjungos kompetencijos sveikatos priežiūros srityje pagrindas ir jos ribos, taip pat siekiama įvertinti, ar dabartinėje Europos Sąjungos teisės išsivystymo stadijoje yra nusistovėjusi pusiausvyra (riba) tarp vidaus rinkos ir valstybių narių kompetencijos organizuoti savo socialinės (sveikatos) apsaugos sistemas ir kur reikėtų brėžti šią ribą. Straipsnyje pateikiama analizė ir išvados remiasi gausia Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismo praktika sveikatos priežiūros srityje, pateikiamos įžvalgos apie galimas tolesnes tendencijas, lyginant Teismo praktiką sveikatos priežiūros srityje su kitomis sritimis

EUROPOS SĄJUNGOS KONKURENCIJOS TEISĖS TAIKYMO VIEŠOSIOMS SVEIKATOS PRIEŽIŪROS PASLAUGOMS APIMTIS

The article examines the extent to which European Union competition law is applicable to public healthcare services. For this purpose, the article analyses the notion of company within the meaning of competition law and aims to establish how this notion could be applied to public healthcare services. It furthermore considers the application to public healthcare of Articles 106 and 107-109 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) establishing derogations from EU competition rules. The article compares the extent of the application of the competition law to public healthcare with that one of the internal market freedoms. The analysis and the conclusions in the article are based on the EU legal acts, documents of the European Commission and cases in the area of public services and competition law decided by the Court of Justice of the EU and the General Court.Straipsnyje tiriama Europos Sąjungos konkurencijos teisės taikymo viešosioms sveikatos priežiūros paslaugoms apimtis. Šiuo tikslu straipsnyje nagrinėjama įmonės sąvoka konkurencijos teisės požiūriu ir įvertinama, kaip ši sąvoka galėtų būti pritaikyta viešosioms sveikatos priežiūros paslaugoms, taip pat nagrinėjamas Sutarties dėl Europos Sąjungos veikimo (SESV) 106 ir SESV 107–109 straipsniuose numatytų išimčių iš ES konkurencijos taisyklių taikymas šioms paslaugoms. ES teisės taikymo viešosioms sveikatos priežiūros paslaugoms apimtis konkurencijos srityje lyginama su judėjimo laisvių sritimi. Straipsnyje pateikiama analizė ir išvados remiasi ES teisės aktais, Komisijos dokumentais ir ES Teisingumo Teismo ir Bendrojo Teismo praktika viešųjų paslaugų, įskaitant sveikatos priežiūros paslaugas, ir konkurencijos teisės srityje