1. Member States shall inform the Commission of any general difficulties, in law or in fact, encountered and reported by their undertakings in securing the award of service contracts in third countries.

2. The Commission shall report to the Council by 18 April 2019, and periodically thereafter, on the opening up of service contracts in third countries and on progress in negotiations with these countries on this subject, particularly within the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

3. The Commission shall endeavour, by approaching the third country concerned, to remedy any situation whereby it finds, on the basis either of the reports referred to in paragraph 2 or of other information, that, in the context of the award of service contracts, a third country:

(a) does not grant Union undertakings effective access comparable to that granted by the Union to undertakings from that country;

(b) does not grant Union undertakings national treatment or the same competitive opportunities as are available to national undertakings; or

(c) grants undertakings from other third countries more favourable treatment than Union undertakings.