Brussels, 16/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - In support of its proposed “Partnership for Growth and Employment”, the European Commission adopted a package of measures on Wednesday entitled “better regulation”, which aims to reduce the administrative burden on business which slows down economic growth and job creation. “The Commission has taken a political initiative as part of the growth initiative of the Lisbon Strategy to regulate better, reduce the weight of bureaucracy and simplify legislation”, the Commissioner for Industry and Enterprise, Günter Verheugen, explained to the press. This package of measures, which aims to remove excessive rules and strike a balance between the costs and advantages of legislation, proposes: 1) improved impact assessments; 2) a closer look at, possible changes to or a withdrawal of pending legislative proposals; 3) simplification of Community legislation; 4) pilot projects in specific areas (construction products, for example) to reduce the administrative burden; 5) ways of replacing legislation (in favour of better use of co-regulation and self-regulation); 6) consultation of the citizens via an internet site; 7) the Member States' active involvement. The Commission is proposing a high-level working group made up of national experts to set a common timetable on how to “regulate better”. EUROPE will coma back to this.