The European Commission wants to simplify European regulations and the way in which they are conceived by making more systematic use of directly applicable regulations, by ensuring that the European Parliament and the EU Council do not add layers of complexity with too many amendments, and by trying to convince the EU Member States not to over-transpose European rules by adding additional national provisions.
The Commission is also promising to get tougher by speeding up its infringement proceedings. This is the purpose of the communication on better regulation, presented on Tuesday 28 April in Strasbourg by Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, which is accompanied by an action plan targeting 12 areas in which the Commission will also propose simplifying legislation, possibly by introducing new legislative rules. And there are many promises of guidelines or toolkits for Member States.
Asked by the EU27 to produce fewer standards and propose clearer texts that can be implemented more quickly in the Member States, the Commission has complied, acknowledging through the Executive Vice-President that it is now time to “focus on areas” where regulation “is really necessary and where we can make a difference”. He also said there would be “fewer rules”. This communication and these commitments should also be read in the light of the ‘roadmap’ on EU competitiveness ‘One Europe, One Market’, approved last week by the three institutions.
The EU is known for “having the best regulatory system in the world, but we can always do better”, continued Valdis Dombrovskis, citing in particular stakeholder consultation processes, better impact assessments and clearer sanction processes in the event of over-regulation leading to further fragmentation of the single market.
In practice, “new EU initiatives should be in line with better regulation principles, including with ‘simplicity by design’”, explains the Commission.
Gold-plating - the practice by Member States of over-transposing European legislation - can hinder the smooth functioning of the single market, even when it is legal, and sometimes unintentionally, explains the Commission.
With this in mind, “the Commission will work on a toolkit of best practices and criteria to help Member States identify and avoid gold-plating in the national transposition and implementation of EU legislation”.
As far as impact assessments are concerned, the Commission defends its use of the urgency procedure to adopt legislative initiatives, including several simplification proposals, in response to “geopolitical (...) challenges”.
“While in cases of extreme urgency there may still be need for derogations from certain better regulation standards”, the Commission is committed to increasing the number of initiatives accompanied by an impact assessment. “For this to be possible, a more rigorous and structured application of proportionality considerations will be necessary. Impact assessments will focus on what really matters, meaning on assessing key economic, social and environmental impacts of the given proposal”.
In response to the recommendations of the European Ombudsman, who in 2025 criticised the procedures chosen to present the various so-called ‘omnibus’ packages, the Commission will assess the urgency of each situation and the possible detrimental consequences of delayed action to distinguish urgency from routine expediency, it adds.
“Even in cases of urgency, the Commission will strive to achieve the best possible evidence base. Where feasible, the Commission will prepare an impact assessment for urgent initiatives with expected significant impact”.
The associated action plan targets 12 priority areas: free movement of goods and services, financial and banking services, customs, taxation, health and food safety, agriculture, transport, energy, climate, environment, digital, housing and building permits. They will be examined as a priority in 2026 and 2027 to “result in legislative or other measures that address outdated provisions, overlaps, inconsistencies or redundant requirements creating unnecessary burden”, explains the communication.
Mixed reactions. While the employers’ organisation BusinessEurope welcomed the emphasis placed on simplification, it has called on the co-legislators to speed up the legislative examination of the simplification proposals.
But according to the NGO ClientEarth, this communication does not, so far, protect Europeans from unscientific and possibly harmful decisions.
While the communication’s renewed commitment to speeding up implementation, assessing the impact of laws and consulting the public before any decision is to be welcomed, “broad and unclear exemptions to the rule, based on ‘urgency’, keep the door open to undermining democratic safeguards”.
Link to the documents: https://aeur.eu/f/lqb (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)