The Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (IMERA) aims to ensure the uninterrupted movement of essential goods, services and persons across the EU during a crisis. It also ensures that critical supplies are available whenever the EU faces an emergency.
Inspired by recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, IMERA introduces a comprehensive preparedness and crisis-response system within the single market. This system, which applies when no specific sectoral measures are in place, promotes transparency and coordination among EU countries.
IMERA was adopted on 9 October 2024, and will come into effect on 29 May 2026. The IMERA package includes the main regulation and the Omnibus Regulation and Directive.
Main components
IMERA establishes a comprehensive preparedness and crisis-response architecture composed of the following main components:
- Governance structure with IMERA Board at the core of this structure, coordinates efforts with EU countries and advises on measures for preventing or addressing a crisis’s impact on the single market.
- Contingency planning framework prepares for potential crises by establishing crisis protocols, training, drills, and early warning system for disruptions in the functioning of the single market.
- Single market vigilance framework monitors critical supply chains of goods and services before disruptions escalate, allowing early crisis response.
- Emergency framework will be activated during a crisis. This framework ensures the free flow of goods, services and persons, prohibiting EU countries from imposing certain restrictions and requiring transparency in their actions. It also enables Commission-led procurement of crisis-relevant goods with EU country participation. This toolbox includes exceptional measures to ensure that essential goods are available when needed most. These measures allow the Commission to request information from companies, to place priority orders with companies and to speed up the procedures for placing essential products on the market (as specified in the Omnibus acts).
Supporting documents & information
- Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (the main regulation)
- Regulation as regards emergency procedures for the conformity assessment, presumption of conformity, adoption of common specifications and market surveillance due to an internal market emergency (Omnibus Regulation)
- Directive as regards emergency procedures for the conformity assessment, presumption of conformity, adoption of common specifications and market surveillance due to an internal market emergency (Omnibus Directive)
- Impact Assessment on single market emergency instrument