March 2003, the Commission launched a process of identifying and assessing the impact of barriers to the internal market for credit agreements relating to resi­dential immovable property. On 18 December 2007, it adopted a White Paper on the Integration of EU Mortgage Credit Markets. The White Paper announced the Commission’s intention to assess the impact of, among other things, the policy options for pre- contractual information, credit databases, credit wor­thiness, the annual percentage rate of charge (APRC) and advice on credit agreements. The Commission established an Expert Group on Credit Histories to assist the Commission in preparing measures to improve the accessibility, comparability and completeness of credit data. Studies on the role and operations of credit intermediaries and non-credit institutions providing credit agreements relating to residential immovable property were also launched. accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the internal market comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods and services and the freedom of establishment are ensured.

The development of a more transparent and efficient credit market within that area is vital in promoting the development of cross-border activity and creating an internal market for credit agreements relating to residential immovable property. There are substantial differences in the laws of the various Member States with regard to the conduct of business in the granting of credit agreements relating to residential immovable property and in the regulation and supervision of credit intermediaries and non-credit institutions providing credit agreements relating to resi­dential immovable property. Such differences create obstacles that restrict the level of cross-border activity on the supply and demand sides, thus reducing competition and choice in the market, raising the cost of lending for providers and even preventing them from doing business.