This article will try to provide an overview and a critique of the main provisions of the Services Directive. Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market was one of the most controversial laws of the recent years. The European Commission envisaged a liberalized market in services free of protectionist national practices but the concerns of the European Parliament led to a watered down version of the directive. In addition to the legal and political background of the drafting process, this article will discuss the scope of the directive which was narrowed down after the exclusion of many areas of the internal market. Then, it will analyze the replacement of the 'country of origin' principle by the 'freedom to provide services' principle which repeats the well-established ECJ's case law on freedom to provide services. A few concluding remarks will made at the end of this article.

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