The Single Market Observatory (SMO) was set up in 1994 with a view to providing the EESC with a flexible, horizontal structure enabling it to:
- Analyse how the Single Market operates,
- Identify shortcomings and obstacles, and
- Propose solutions.
The SMO priorities are:
- The new economic models (e.g. the circular economy or the sharing / collaborative economy) and their impact on the Single Market;
- Brexit and the Single Market (i.e. how the UK's withdrawal from the EU will affect the Single Market).
The SMO has developed, in close cooperation with the European Commission, a database dedicated to European self- and co-regulation in order to facilitate the exchange of information and the identification of best practices.